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The  Batavia  System 

OF 

r  ..  . 

Individual  Instruction 


BY 

JOHN   KENNEDY,   A.  M. 

AUTHOu  OF  The  philosophy  of  school  discipline.  The  school 

AND    the    family,    WhaT    WORDS    SAY,    MuST    GREEK    GO?    ETC. 

\ 


SYRACUSE,    N.    Y. 
C.  W.  BARDEEN,   PUBLISHER 

1914 


Copyright,  1914,    by  John  Kennedy 


u 


^\o^\ 


y/\ 


"For  some  years  I  have  been  conscious  of  the  fact  that  our 
modem  graded  school  system  that  strives  to  treat  all  the 
pupils  in  exactly  the  same  way  is  resulting  in  worry  and  the 
consequent  nervous  strain  so  common  in  pupils  and  in  teach- 
ers. The  absexice  of  everything  of  this  kind  from  pupils  and 
teachers  in  the  Batavia  schools  is  to  me  the  most  noteworthy 
result  of  organized  individual  instruction  as  it  exists  there. 
A  system  that  will  save  for  effective  use  the  energy  that  is 
being  wasted,  and  even  worse  than  wasted,  will  increase 
many  fold  the  efficiency  of  our  schools.  Such  a  system  seems 
to  have  been  evolved  by  Sup't  Kennedy  and  to  have  passed 
beyond  the  experimental  stage  into  the  realm  of  demon- 
strated fact  in  the  Batavia  schools." — Chas.  F.  Wheelock, 
Assistant  commissioner  of  secondary  education.  University 
of  the  State  of  New  York. 

"To-day  while  visiting  the  recitation  of  an  old-time  friend, 
Dr.  Boughton,  now  at  the  Erasmus  Hall  high  school,  I  noticed 
an  incident  which  interested  and  pleased  me,  as  doubtless 
it  will  you.  In  the  class  discussion  about  Oliver  Goldsmith's 
school  days.  Dr.  Boughton  asked  the  question  'Are  there 
really  any  dull  boys?'  One  little  fellow,  not  more  than 
thirteen  years  old,  said : 

"  'There  are  not.  This  has  been  proved  at  Batavia,  N.  Y., 
where  a  system  of  individual  instruction  has  been  adopted 
which  is  attracting  people  from  all  parts  of  the  world.  This 
system  shows  that  all  children  can  learn  if  they  only  have  a 
chance.' 

"I  was  hardly  prepared  to  hear  a  school  boy  speak  of  in- 
dividual instruction,  but  this  incident  to  me  is  significant. 
Dr.  Gunnison,* principal  of  the  school,  to  whom  I  related 
this  incident,  is  deeply  interested  in  your  work,  and  will  in  a 
few  weeks  send  one  or  two  of  his  teachers  to  study  the  sys- 
tem. And  so  the  good  work  goes  on."  Sup't  Albert  Leonard, 
New  Rochelle,  N.  Y.,  former  president  Michigan  state  normal 
schools. 


INTRODUCTION 

In  the  forty  years  that  I  have  been  getting 
acquainted  with  teachers  I  have  found  a  large 
proportion  of  those  who  are  more  than  place- 
holders divided  into  two  classes:  those  who 
adopt  every  new  notion  that  finds  advocates, 
like  no-recess,  ambidexterity,  vertical  penman- 
ship, and  discard  it  as  soon  as  other  people 
begin  to  discard  it;  and  those  whose  minds 
have  been  tickled  by  the  epigram  that  what 
is  new  is  not  true  and  what  is  true  is  not  new,  and 
who  refuse  to  admit  that  the  unaccustomed 
may  be  worth  investigation.  The  Batavia 
system  has  suffered  from  both  of  these  classes. 
The  first  have  nominally  adopted  it,  without 
comprehension  of  its  underlying  and  funda- 
mental features;  the  others  have  passed  it  by 
on  the  other  side  as  an  undue  featuring  of  a 
familiar   principle.     It    will    be    well    for   both 

(V) 


333828 


vi  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

these  classes  to  know  what  the  Batavia  system 
is  not. 

(1)  It  is  not  individual  instruction.  There 
was  never  a  school  that  did  not  give  individual 
instruction.  The  Batavia  system  is  a  system 
of  individual  instruction,  substituting  for  oc- 
casional, haphazard  personal  teaching,  often 
after  hours  when  both  teacher  and  pupil  are 
wearied,  or  during  recess  when  the  teacher  is 
hurried,  or  in  course  of  recitation  when  \h.e 
pupil  is  embarrassed  and  the  class  is  kept  wait- 
ing, a  system  whereby  such  instruction  has  its 
regular  time  and  place  with  none  of  these  im- 
certainties  and  difficulties. 

(2)  It  is  not  a  way  to  boost  pupils.  Its 
foundation  principle  is  not  to  tell  but  to  lead 
the  pupil  to  find  out  for  himself.  Instead  of 
robbing  the  pupil  of  the  joy  of  achievement  by 
seeking  to  find  for  him  a  royal  road  to  knowl- 
edge it  glorifies  the  achievement  and  the  joy 
of  it,  and  inspires  a  love  and  a  habit  of  it. 

(3)  It  is  not  a  device  for  helping  backward 


INTRODUCTION  vii 

pupils.  It  helps  them,  but  it  helps  bright 
pupils  too,  and  there  is  no  recognition  of  back- 
ward pupils.     Every  pupil  in  school  is  benefited. 

(4)  It  is  not  a  foe  to  the  graded  system. 
On  the  contrary,  nowhere  are  the  advantages 
and  the  necessity  of  the  class  more  convincingly 
demonstrated  than  in  this  book.  It  sustains 
the  graded  system  by  supplementing  it. 

(5)  It  is  not  a  way  to  get  extra  labor  from 
the  teacher.  On  the  contrary,  it  lightens  her 
work  and  relieves  her  of  anxiety. 

(6)  It  is  not  an  excuse  to  add  to  expense. 
On  the  contrary  it  lightens  it,  producing  more 
result  at  less  cost. 

If  all  this  is  true,  and  there  is  a  great  deal 
of  excellent  testimony  here  to  prove  it  from 
men  whose  word  commands  respect,  then  the 
Batavia  system  is  worthy  of  investigation, 
and  this  book  with  its  full  index  makes  that 
investigation  easy. 

The  standard  held  up  for  pupils  at  Batavia 
is  high.     Far  from  the  Montessori  notion  that 


viii  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

everything  must  yield  to  the  impulses  of  the 
child,  the  pupil  is  taught  from  the  first  the  joy 
of  accomplishing  what  is  given  him  to  do. 
There  is  a  modern  tendency  to  rob  children 
of  this  joy,  to  find  a  royal  road  to  learning.  "If 
I  held  all  knowledge  in  my  closed  fist,"  the 
philosopher  said,  "I  would  open  my  hand  and 
let  it  fly  away  for  the  joy  of  gathering  it  once 
more."  It  is  not  our  knowledge  we  value  in 
later  years,  but  the  process  through  which 
what  we  have  of  knowledge  was  procured. 

Can  you  look  back  to  the  afternoon  when 
you  knew  it  was  your  duty  to  write  an  essay, 
but  you  wanted  to  play  ball,  to  get  a  lesson,  to 
read  a  book,  all  laudable  things  to  do  except 
that  on  this  occasion  it  was  your  duty  to  do 
something  else?  Do  you  remember  how  you 
pondered  over  it  before  you  could  conquer 
yourself  sufficiently  to  set  at  work,  how  hard 
it  was  to  get  started,  but  how  when  once  the 
spirit  of  work  came  upon  you  it  took  possession 
of  your  whole  being,  till  you  wrote  almost  with 


INTRODUCTION  ix 

inspiration,  and  never  rose  from  the  table  till 
it  had  been  completed  and  corrected  and  copied, 
and  you  could  say  to  yourself,  "That  is  the  best 
of  which  I  am  capable"?  How  many  joys  in 
life  have  you  had  equal  to  that?  The  joy  was 
not  in  the  product — you  forgot  the  essay  long 
ago.  It  was  in  the  process,  in  the  satisfaction 
of  self-mastery,  the  victory  of  effort,  the  de- 
light of  accomplishment.  Getting  this  is  about 
all  that  is  worth  while  in  education. 

It  is  to  my  mind  the  strongest  feature  of  the 
Batavia    system    that    it    preserves    and    en-    ' 
courages    and    stimulates   this   joy   of   accom-    ^ 
plishment.     The    child    is    never    told    by    his 
teacher.     He  is  shown  how  to  find  out  for  him-    ) 
self,  and  to  enjoy  finding  out  for  himself.     The , 
leisure  for  individual  work  gives  the  teacher 
opportunity  to  discover  where  the  boy's  think-  \ 
ing  machine  is  clogged,  to  remove  the  obstacle,     | 
and  to  set  it  going  again.     It  is  not  the  answer 
to  the  arithmetic  problem  the  teacher  wants: 
it  is  the  ability  and  the  perseverance  of  the  boy 


X  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

to  get  the  answer.  In  class  she  can  do  Uttle 
more  than  assure  herself  the  answers  are  cor- 
rect. In  individual  work  she  can  make  sure 
he  can  solve  all  such  problems,  and  that  he 
will  joy  in  being  able  to  do  it.  Love  and  work 
are  the  only  things  in  life  really  worth  while. 
Love  comes  to  most  of  us  but  some  miss  it. 
Nobody  need  miss  work,  and  if  joy  in  honest 
work  is  planted  in  his  soul  his  life  will  not  be 
barren  or  unhappy. 

That  the  Batavia  children  acquire  this  joy 
is  not  a  theory.  The  principal  argument  for 
vocational  work  is  that  it  takes  hold  of  chil- 
dren when  they  have  begun  to  be  restless  and 
want  to  give  up  school.  The  Batavia  children 
do  not  want  to  give  up  school.  They  stay  m 
the  grades,  they  enter  the  high  school,  they 
finish  the  course,  boys  and  girls  alike,  and  they 
choose  the  cultural  studies,  the  hard  studies: 
In  an  enrolment  of  1750  there  are  850  in  the 
upper  seven  of  the  twelve  grades,  and  375  in 
the    high    school.     The    proportion    of    pupils 


INTRODUCTION  xi 

studying  Greek  is  larger  than  in  any  other  city 
or  village  of  the  state. 

One  explanation  is  that  under  this  system 
school  work  becomes  intensive.  There  is  none 
of  the  dawdling  over  an  open  book  that  not 
only  is  not  study  but  precludes  the  knowledge 
of  what  study  is.  From  time  immemorial  the 
recitation  has  been  looked  upon  as  a  battle  of 
wits  between  instructor  and  pupils  to  detect 
lack  of  preparation.  A  library  could  be  made 
from  familiar  anecdotes,  like  that  of  the  pro- 
fessor who  said  severely,  ''I  have  discovered 
that  because  I  always  begin  at  the  head  of  the 
class  and  call  upon  you  in  turn,  you  have  pre- 
pared yourselves  only  upon  the  questions  that 
you  reckon  will  fall  to  you.  I  shall  put  a  short 
stop  to  that.  Hereafter  I  shall  begin  at  the 
other  end  of  the  class." 

I  am  myself  a  graduate  of  a  good  college  to 
which  I  owe  a  great  deal,  but  not  forty  of  the 
two  thousand  recitations  I  attended  were  in 
themselves    instructive.     I    had    a    liking    for 


xii  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

geometry,  and  one  day  I  demonstrated  a  prop- 
osition in  Euclid  by  a  method  different  from 
that  in  the  book.  The  tutor  asked  me  to  go 
over  it  again,  and  seemed  puzzled.  Finally  he 
remarked,  ''That  demonstration  seems  cor- 
rect; I  will  assume  that  it  is  so.  But  hereafter 
please  give  in  class  the  demonstration  that  is 
in  the  book.  Then  if  you  will  hand  in  to  me 
aft^r  class  any  original  demonstrations  I  will 
give  you  extra  credit  for  them."  That  was 
half  a  century  ago,  but  I  fear  there  would  be 
little  more  to  learn  in  many  college  recitations 
today.  If  a  sort  of  ergograph  could  be  devised 
that  would  measure  mechanically  whether  the 
boys  had  got  their  lessons  the  time  of  the  recita- 
tion might  be  saved. 

Under  the  Batavia  system  the  pupil  is  not 
tempted  to  pretend.  It  is  no  humiliation  to 
say,  *1  do  not  know",  which  always  means, 
''I  want  to  know  and  am  ready  to  be  shown 
how  to  find  out".  The  time  of  the  class  is  not 
occupied  in  sparring  with  a  bluffing  pupil  who 


INTRODUCTION  xiii 

has  made  no  preparation.  The  relation  be- 
tween pupil  and  teacher  is  of  frankness,  candor, 
effort,  helpfulness.  The  moral  effect  of  this 
is  shown  in  manliness  and  womanliness. 

The  Batavia  system  requires  not  only  work 
but  honest  work,  fair  methods,  generous  com- 
petition, the  spirit  of  the  hero  and  of  the  gentle- 
man. With  the  individual  teaching  systemati- 
cally provided  for,  these  lessons  can  be  incul- 
cated, here  a  little,  there  a  little. 

What  are  all  people  most  sensitive  about? 
Any  little  reflection  upon  what  we  call  good- 
breeding,  the  knowing  what  it  is  proper  to  do. 
Look  back  in  your  own  life  and  ask  yourself 
how  many  actual  precepts  of  good  breeding 
were  ever  given  to  you  in  words?  Usually 
you  will  find  there  were  very  few,  but  they 
came  at  the  right  time,  and  each  one  gave  you 
an  insight  into  a  score  of  principles  with  a 
multitude  of  applications.  The  school  cannot 
overcome  the  influences  of  an  uncultivated 
home  environment,  but  it  can  mightily  modify 


xiv  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

them.  By  here  a  hint  and  there  a  suggestion 
the  teacher  who  has  time  to  do  it  and  interest 
to  do  it  can  turn  her  boys  and  girls  toward  an 
ideal  and  an  observation  and  an  apprehension 
and  a  consideration  for  others  that  will  put 
upon  the  school  as  a  whole  the  impress  of  good 
breeding.  Which  would  you  rather  have  said 
of  your  school,  "It  took  the  prize  at  the  county 
spelling  match",  or,  "It  certainly  has  a  remark- 
ably well-mannered  lot  of  boys  and  girls"? 

Nor -should  Mr.  Kennedy's  claim  be  forgotten 
that  under  this  system  the  teachers  have  time 
and  opportunity  not  only  to  gain  entrance  into 
social  circles  but  to  shine  there.  Why  not? 
It  is  every  year  an  increasing  wonder  to  me  that 
such  fine  young  women  become  teachers.  It 
is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  a  majority  of  our 
choicest  girls  enter  the  schoolroom,  at  least  for 
a  time:  it  is  still  the  natural  employment  for 
the  well  educated  young  woman  who  does  not 
want  to  be  idle. 

But  we"  have  been  wearing  out  our  teachers. 


INTRODUCTION  xv 

A  woman  teacher  is  at  her  zenith,  so  far  as 
eHgibiHty  is  concerned,  at  twenty-eight,  which 
means  that,  from  twenty  to  thirty  she  is  over- 
worked, nervously  exhausted.  Her  school  drags 
upon  her,  she  loses  her  resilience,  she  is  worn 
out  just  when  she  should  be  becoming  most 
useful.  Incidentally  the  school  absorbs  her,  and 
she  has  no  time  or  taste  for  social  functions. 

Mr.  Kennedy  says  that  is  not  true  under 
the  Batavia  system.  The  teacher's  work  is 
done  at  three,  and  she  has  no  worries  over  the 
day  or  the  morrow.  She  can  go  home  to  dress^ 
to  call,  to  be  hostess  or  guest,  to  enter  into  the 
spirit  of  all  that  is  restful  and  stimulating  in  a 
cultivated  community.  If  that  is  true,  that 
alone  makes  the  Batavia  system  worth  looking/ 
into. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  a  good  deal  is  said 
here  of  the  happiness  of  the  children  as  con- 
trasted with  the  suffering,  the  tragedies  of  the 
usual  schoolroom.  Are  these  phrases  exag- 
gerated?    Here  is  a  letter  that  I  happened  to 


xvi  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

come  across  today,  which  I  quote  only  because 
it  will  save  my  looking  up  a  more  recent  one. 
It  was  left  behind  by  a  boy  14  years  old  in 
Morris,  111.,  who  committed  suicide  in  1898. 

"Friends: — I  shot  myself  because  the  teacher 
would  not  let  me  alone.  I  worked  six  examples 
on  the  board,  and  I  asked  her  if  they  were  write, 
and  she  said  'You  may  go  to  your  seat  and  have 
a  failure  for  bothering  me,'  and  after  I  had  went 
to  my  seat  she  had  me  name  on  the  board  a 
big  ott  (0)  after  it,  and  then  they  laughed  at 
me.  if  I  can't  be  marked  for  what  I  work  I 
can  go  to  heaven  and  the  Lord  won't  cheat  me 
eather.  Dear  mother,  I  love  you  and  Clara 
and  Eliza,  do  not  weep  over  me,  but  tell  Pap 
If  he  comes  back  that  I  said  good-by  to  him. 
this  is  all  I  have  to  say  I  hope  the  Lord  will 
watch  over  you  All  Good-by  to  all  my  Friends 
In  love  your  friend 

Ray  Bothalmey,  City.'* 


INTRODUCTION  xvii 

In  the  forty  years  that  I  have  edited  the 
School  Bulletin  there  has  been  hardly  a  month 
when  such  instances  have  not  come  to  my 
notice:  two  of  them  in  Brooklyn  I  chronicled  in 
the  June  number  this  year.  We  forget,  now 
that  we  are  grown,  how  real  were  the  sorrows 
of  our  childhood.  I  was  myself  expelled  from 
a  Vermont  academy  by  a  principal  who  could 
have  got  along  with  me  easily  enough  if  his 
thought  had  been  less  upon  his  dignity  and 
more  upon  the  boy.  I  did  not  lay  it  up  against 
him :  I  had  given  him  considerable  provocation ; 
but  it  was  no  fault  of  his  that  I  did  not  go 
straight  to  the  devil.  Teachers  get  overwrought, 
nervous,  touchy,  irritable,  till  a  naturally  kind 
heart  shows  recognizable  malice.  My  children 
have  suffered  in  school  to  my  knowledge.  Your 
children  have  suffered,  whether  you  know  it  or 
not.     The  word  is  not  a  bit  too  strong. 

Now  there  is  testimony  in  this  book  from  a 
score  of  witnesses  competent  to  judge  that  the 
Batavia   system   eliminates   this   suffering.     If 


xviii  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

it  does,  it  ought  to  be  adopted.  All  these  men 
and  women  may  be  mistaken,  but  their  array 
of  testimony  makes  it  the  duty  of  school  men 
to  investigate. 

A  word  should  be  said  for  some  of  these  wit- 
nesses. Superintendent  Ladd  is  competent. 
He  did  not  originate  the  system  and  has  none 
of  the  parental  pride  of  the  parent.  He  has  a 
legal  mind  and  training;  before  he  became  a 
teacher  he  was  a  practising  attorney.  He  is 
known  among  the  teachers  of  the  state  as  a  man 
of  careful  judgment  and  moderate  statement. 
He  is  at  the  head  of  one  of  the  committees  ap- 
pointed by  the  Regents  of  the  University  to 
prepare  examination  questions  for  all  the  schools 
of  the  state.  So  the  chapter  that  he  writes 
is  worth  reading  and  pondering.  We  may  be 
sure  that  what  he  says  weighs  sixteen  ounces  to 
the  pound.  Mind  what  it  tells  is  not  what  was 
done  the  first  year  the  system  was  tried.  He 
has  known  it  for  all  the  sixteen  years  it  has  been 
in  operation.  He  is  speaking  of  permanent 
results. 


INTRODUCTION  xix 

Miss  Hamilton,  Miss  Stein,  Miss  Ferry  are 
competent  witnesses.  They  have  taught  under 
the  Batavia  system  from  the  beginning,  and 
they  speak  of  what  they  know  and  of  what  they 
have  been  called  upon  to  prove  in  the  Univer- 
sities of  Pennsylvania  and  of  Virginia. 

Superintendent  W.  H.  Holmes  is  competent; 
he  has  recently  been  called  from  Westerly,  R.  I., 
to  the  charge  of  the  schools  of  Mount  Vernon 
in  this  state.  What  he  says  in  chapter  XXX 
is  said  at  much  greater  length  in  his  published 
book,  ''School  organization  and  the  .individual 
child"  (Worcester,  1912),  a  masterly  treatment 
of  the  subject.  You  will  find  like  testimony  in 
Bagley's  "School  and  class  management". 

Prof.  Thiselton  Mark,  author  of  the  "History 
of  educational  theories"  and  editor  of  Charles 
Hoole's  "A  new  discovery  of  the  old  art  of 
teaching  school",  was  sent  here  by  the  English 
government  to  inspect  certain  phases  of  our 
school  work,  and  his  endorsement  is  emphatic. 
Dr.  J.  A.  Houston,  inspector  of  high  schools, 


XX  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

was  sent  to  Bat  a  via  by  the  minister  of  educa- 
tion for  the  province  of  Ontario,  and  declares 
unequivocally  for  what  the  Batavia  plan  pro- 
vides. 

Stanley  Holmes,  Barney  Whitney,  Emmet 
Belknap,  E.  D.  Palmer,  J.  K.  Beck  are  city 
superintendents  of  Massachusetts,  New  York, 
Michigan,  Indiana,  who  came  to  see  for  them- 
selves and  who  were  convinced.  In  face  of 
such  testimony  it  does  not  become  the  young 
teacher  to  declare  there  is  nothing  new  to  be 
learned  here. 

The  variety  of  expression  among  these  wit- 
nesses i?  a  proof  of  their  independent  investiga- 
tion. Even  the  * 'three  don'ts"  that  lie  at  its 
foundation  are  remembered  by  some  of  them 
as  two,  the  third,  not  to  do  any  thing  upon  a 
lesson  that  has  not  been  recited,  being  over- 
looked. In  fact  it  will  be  found  interesting  to 
compare  their  various  reports  through  the  very 
full  index,  and  see  how  they  differ  in  expression 
and  in  detail  but  agree  upon  the  fundamental 
principles. 


INTRODUCTION  xxi 

A  word  should  be  said  for  Mr.  Kennedy's 
own  style.  If  the  reader  has  time  for  only 
one  chapter  let  him  read  that  upon  the  laggard, 
page  225.  If  he  does  not  believe  it  at  the  first 
reading,  let  him  reflect  upon  it  and  read  it 
again,  and  he  will  recognize  a  new  and  sound 
view-point  of  untold  possibilities. 

C.  W.  Bardeen 

Syracuse,  N.  Y.,  Aug.  12,  1914 


The  Batavia  System 

OP 

Individual  Instruction 


CONTENTS 

Page 

I  Its    origin .• 9 

II  Underlying  principles 14 

III  Results  in  Batavia 19 

IV  Official  report  to  Albany 36 

V  Relation  to  class  teaching 39 

VI  Children  retained  in  school 47 

VII  Expense  reduced 53 

VIII  Independence  developed 58 

IX  Organization  humanized 66 

X  Necessity  of  graded  schools 70 

XI  Benefits    summarized 76 

XII  The  first  individual  teacher 78 

XIII  Experience  of  another  individ- 
ual teacher 85 

XIV  Views  of  a  New  York  superin- 
tendent   87 

XV     A  Philadelphia  view 98 

XVI     Views  of  a  Michigan  superin- 
tendent   Ill 

(5) 


6  THE  BAT  AVI  A  SYSTEM 

XVII     Testimony  of  a  Batavia  prin- 
cipal   124 

XVIII  An  Indiana  view 126 

XIX  A  Wisconsin  adoption 129 

XX  A  revelation  and  a  revolution ....  13 1 

XXI  The  present  view  in  Batavia 139 

XXI I  Elimination  of  the  ninth  grade ...  1 5 1 

XXIII  Strengthening  the  graded  sys- 
tem   162 

XXIV  With  children  of  foreign  paren- 
tage  180 

XXV    Advantages   over   after-school 

assistance 185 

XXVI     Development   of   the   spirit   of 

work 200 

XXVII     Personal    aid    under    favorable 

conditions    207 

XXVIII     As  seen  in  Canada 213 

XXIX     What  to  do  with  the  laggard 224 

'  XXX     Class  individual  instruction 241 

XXXI     Opinions  of  teachers 253 

XXXII     A  Minnesota  view 258 

The  blue  and  the  white 262 

INDEX 265 


The  first  day  the  teacher  went  to  the  child's  de^lc..bu4  had  to  l^an  over,  so  thereafter 
the  teacher  had  a  chair  in  front  and  the  chHd  oam«  ki  herl  iyTitt.  rJtMs  exception  the  plan 
has  been  unchanged  from  the  first.       -  ,  -  /    ^  :  .  -  >  -      - j'  ^  '   ■>   ^     .  >  '  - 


The  individual  teacher  at  work  in  a  two-teacher  room 


The  class  teacher  at  work,  with  the  individual  teacher  on   the  right.     The  empty 
desks  belong  to  pupils  now  reciting  in  front. 


-      The  B ATA VI a  System 

HISTORY  AND  EXPOSITION 
Chapter  I 

Its  Origin 

In  the  fall  of  1898  a  grade  room  in  Batavia 
was  overflowing.  It  contained  53  children. 
The  usual  procedure  in  a  case  of  that  kind  had 
been  to  take  out  a  portion  of  the  children  and 
open  up  a  new  room. 

The  room  referred  to  happened  to  be  a  large 
one.  There  were  seats  not  occupied,  and  there 
was  floor-space  for  other  seats.  So  the  con- 
gestion was  not  a  physical  one. 

The  superintendent  thought  that  he  saw  an 
opportunity  for  a  great  rescue.  He  had  seen 
grades  breaking  down;  and  had  seen  children 
and  teachers  collapsing  under  the  strain  of 
wholesale  teaching.  He  therefore  advised  the 
board  to  leave  all  the  children  in  that  room  and 

(9) 


10  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

to  send  the  new  teacher  in  there  to  do  indi- 
vidual work  exclusively.  He  said:  "The  stand- 
ing reproach  against  the  graded  school  system 
ever  since  it  was  started  has  been  that  it  does 
not  reach  the  needs  of  individuals;  that  in  its 
scheme  of  handling  masses  it  often  over-rides 
the  individual  and  rides  him  down.  Let  there 
be  one  room  in  the  world  in  which  that  reproach 
will  not  hold.  Let  there  be  one  room  in  which 
the  individual  is  attended  to.  I  believe  that 
every  child  can  be  saved  to  health  and  success ; 
and  I  believe  that  we  take  off  all  strain  from  a 
teacher  when  we  take  from  her  those  who  are 
dragging.  I  believe  that  the  teacher  now  in 
that  room  can  handle  all  those  children  and 
many  more  with  perfect  ease  and  success,  if 
she  has  some  one  to  assume  the  burden  of  the 
laggards.*' 

The  board  felt  that  the  superintendent  was 
right;  and  though  they  had  no  precedent  for 
their  action,  they  proceeded  to  make  their  own 
precedent,  and  appointed  on  the  spot  the  first 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  U 

individual  teacher  in  the  history  of  education. 

The  instructions  given  to  that  teacher  were 
to  go  into  that  room,  find  the  most  backward 
children,  and  make  them  the  most  forward. 
She  did  that,  of  course.  And  for  the  first  time 
in  the  history  of  education  there  was  a  large 
room  leveled  up,  a  large  room  in  which  there 
was  no  child  dragging  and  no  child  retarded. 

The  individual  teacher  did  her  work  at  a 
table,  calling  the  child  to  her  as  she  became 
ready  for  him,  and  detaining  him  as  long  as 
she  deemed  it  expedient.  She  had  the  first 
claim  on  a  child  and  might  call  on  or  detain 
him  even  if  his  class  was  reciting. 
.  To  guard  against  any  injudicious  help  she 
was  restricted  by  three  restraining  "don^ts"'. 
1st,  don't  tell  the  child  anything,  but  see  that 
he  knows  it.  2d,  don't  do  anything  for  the  child 
but  see  that  he  does  it.  3d,  don't  do  any  in- 
dividual work  on  an  unrecited  lesson. 

The  class-teacher  went  on  as  usual  conduct- 
ing classes  all  day  long,  the  room  being  divided 


12  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

into  two  sections,  a  preparation  section  and  a 
recitation  section.  No  recitation  was  obstruct- 
ed any  longer.  Lack  of  preparation  meant 
lack  of  participation.  The  ready  ones  parti- 
cipated; and  there  was  no  longer  any  marking 
of  time.  The  children  were  all  happy;  and 
they  were  all  successful.  There  were  no  failures 
to  be  accounted  for. 

It  was  thus  demonstrated  that  teaching  is  a 
dual  process;  and  that  failures  are  the  result 
of  trying  to  carry  on  education  by  a  single  pro- 
cess. 

After  establishing  the  dual  process  in  rooms 
that  overflowed,  then  came  the  question  of 
establishing  it  in  rooms  that  were  not  overflow- 
ing. That  ■  was  accomplished  by  having  the 
single  teacher  give  every  other  period  to  indi- 
vidual work.  If  she  had  but  a  single  grade  the 
individual  period  corresponded  with  their  pre- 
paration period.  If  she  had  two  grades  she 
arranged  for  individual  periods  by  having  a 
two-day  program. 


I 


.      INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  13 

In  the  high  school  each  teacher  assigned  five 
lessons  a  week,  but  used  every  other  period  for 
individual  attention.  And  in  addition  the  high 
school  had  an  individual  table  at  which  a  teach- 
er labored  all  day  long. 


Chapter  II 

Underlying  Principles 

1.  Schools  become  clogged,  (a)  by  slow 
minds,  (b)  by  irregular  attendance,  (c)  by  dis- 
couraged minds. 

2.  The  attempt  to  force  forward  an  ob- 
structed school  is  detrimental  to  all  concerned, 
(a)  It  overstrains  the  teacher,  (b)  It  depresses 
the  teaching,  (c)  It  destroys  the  condition  of 
repose  and  equipoise  essential  to  good  teaching, 
(d)  It  is  wasteful  of  time,  destructive  of  interest, 
and  promotive  of  discouragement,  (e)  It  tends 
to  wholesale  failure,  indicated  by  the  great 
multitudes  who  drop  out,  and  by  the  indifferent 
scholarship  of  the  few  who  persevere  to  the  end. 

3.  Statistics  show  that  in  elementary  and  in 
secondary  schools,  and  throughout  the  first 
stages  of- higher  education  the  falling  out  is  the 
rule  and  that  a  low  grade  of  work  and  scholar- 

(14) 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  15 

ship  is  the  rule  with  those  who  remain.  Hence 
failure  is  the  rule,  and  high  success  the  excep- 
tion. 

4.  The  clogging  of  schools  may  be  practi-  | 
cally,  if  not  entirely  relieved,  by  devoting  half 
the   teaching   force   to   individual   instruction,  i 
(a)  By    directing    attention    definitely    to    the 
point  where  the  pinch  or  clog  occurs,     (b)  By     ' 
operating  upon  the  difficulty  according  to  its  / 
exact  nature  and  without  resort  to  any  kind 
of  force.  • 

5.  Individual  attention  involves  no  strain 
on  the  teacher  and  no  violence  to  the  pupil; 
hence  it  tends  to  that  condition  of  repose  and 
equipoise  essential  to  good  teaching  and  to  suc- 
cessful study. 

6.  Individual  teaching  tends  to  check  all 
lagging  and  flagging,  whether  resulting  from 
discouragement  or  lack  of  interest,  and  to  pro- 
mote a  general  forward  movement  in  the  student 
ranks,  (a)  It  sustains  the  interest  of  the  bright- 
er pupils  by  permitting  them  to  move  on,  and 


16  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

by  doing  away  with  the  irksome  deadlocks, 
repetitions  and  tragic  struggles  of  the  recita- 
tion, (b)  It  brings  forward  the  slower  pupils 
by  recognizing  their  real  trouble,  by  saving 
them  from  public  exposure  and  persecution,  by 
gently  leading  them  back  from  chaos  to  where 
the  ground  is  solid  under  their  feet,  by  giving 
them  direction,  and  by  awakening  within  them 
confidence  in  their  own  powers. 

7.  Individual  instruction  is  quite  as  potent 
and  essential*  in  the  moral  as  in  the  intellectual 
training  of  youth,  (a)  The  w411  to  do  what  is 
right  and  wholesome  is  an  expression  of  moral 
health,  (b)  Failure  tends  to  unsettle  character 
and  to  pervert  the  will.  Under  failure  there  is 
a  giving  way  of  either  physical,  or  moral  health, 
sometimes  of  both. 

8.  Individual  instruction  is  a  definitely  re- 
stricted agency  in  the  education  of  youth,  (a) 
Its  function  is  strictly  remedial;  it  addresses  it- 
self solely  to  disturbed  conditions,  (b)  Its 
end  is  attained  in  the  restoration  of  desirable 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  17 

conditions,  (c)  It  brings  about  its  own  elimi- 
nation and  gives  way  when  the  conditions  for 
exclusive  class  instruction  are  ideal. 

9.  Class  instruction  is  the  normal  and  perma- 
nent form  of  the  best  education  of  youth.  It 
supplies  (a)  the  spur  of  emulation,  (b)  the  stimu- 
lus of  numbers,  (c)  the  attrition  of  mind  upon 
mind,  (d)  the  side  lights  from  many  minds,  (e) 
a  greater  breadth  of  teaching  than  can  be  given 
to  an  individual,  and  (f)  an  experience  in  think- 
ing and  doing  in  the  presence  of  a  public. 

10.  Only  through  the  restorative  effects  of 
individual  instruction  can  a  school  reach  any- 
thing like  ideal  conditions  for  class  work,  and 
only  through  the  constant  operation  of  indi- 
vidual instruction  can  those  conditions  be  main- 
tained. Therefore,  individual  instruction  is  a 
constantly  necessary  phase  of  school  activity, 
the  constant  and  necessary  supplement  and 
corrective  of  class  teaching. 

11.  Individual  instruction  involves  no  in- 
crease of  labor  or  expense  in  the  education  of 
youth,  but  rather  the  reduction  of  both. 


18  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

12.  Finally,  statistics  show  that  schools  pro- 
vided with  systematic  individual  instruction 
carry  their  pupils  to  higher  stages  of  advance- 
ment and  give  them  sounder  scholarship  than 
do  schools  which  lack  this  agency. 


Chapter  III 

Results  in  Batavia^ 

We  have  in  Batavia  learned  the  very  great 
importance  of  individual  instruction,  and  have 
committed  ourselves  to  it  fully.  It  is  scarcely 
too  much  to  say  that  our  school  system  has  un- 
dergone a  revolution.  Otu*  experiment  has  not 
taught  us  to  believe  that  individual  instruction 
will  ever  be  the  prime  pillar  of  education  or  even 
be  the  normal  form  of  teaching.  We  are  more 
convinced  than  ever  before  that  children  will 
continue  to  be  assembled  in  classes,  to  be  drilled 
and  trained  and  educated  in  the  presence  of 
their  fellows.  In  classes  only  can  they  get  the 
needed  spur  of  emulation,  the  attrition  of  mind 
upon  mind,  the  helpful  sidelights  from  many 
minds,  and  the  breadth  of  teaching  which  is 
compelled  by  the  presence  of  numbers. 


*  From  an  address  delivered  at  Lake  wood,  N.  Y. 

(19) 


20  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

To  start  a  great  school-system  forward  on 
purely  class-instruction  however  is  like  starting 
a  great  army  forward  without  its  medical  ser- 
vice. There  will  soon  be  culminative  distress, 
misery,   suffering,  despair,  loss,  depletion. 

It  is  no  mere  figure  of  speech  that  charges 
up  distress  and  suffering  to  schools.  The  work 
of  the  class  is  guaged  to  average  capacity.  Fully 
half  the  children  are  below  that  average,  and 
are  dragging  despairingly  in  the  rear.  Their 
dragging  is  a  peril  to  themselves  and  an  inflic- 
tion to  the  rest.  Their  dragging  is  also  a  posi- 
tive peril  to  the  teacher.  Distress  tends  to 
awaken  sympathy;  but  when  the  distress  is 
hanging  about  your  neck  and  tending  to  drag 
you  under,  your  sympathy  turns  to  a  fierce 
struggle  for  yourself.  Half  the  class  is  com- 
posed of  children  dragging  down  their  teacher. 
And  how  about  the  other  half?  They  are  child- 
ren tethered  either  to  an  immovable  obstruc- 
tion or  to  one  moving  so  slowly  as  to  be  insuffer- 
ably irksome.     These  children  are  in  just  as 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  21 

much  danger  as  the  others.  Depletion  will 
begin  on  both  sides  of  the  line.  Loss  of  interest 
is  about  as  fatal  as  loss  of  courage. 

We  saw  at  last  the  better  way.  And  our  re- 
cent years  have  been  years  of  thanksgiving. 
In  these  years,  we  have  opened  no  graves ;  in 
these  years,  we  have  broken  no  hearts;  in  these 
years,  we  have  wrecked  no  lives;  in  these  years, 
we  have  touched  no  child  except  for  his  or  her 
good ;  in  these  years,  we  have  had  the  hearts  of 
our  children  filled  with  song,  and  we  have  made 
teaching  a  most  salubrious  business  for  our 
teachers.  In  these  years  we  have  taken  all  the 
obliquity  out  of  our  grades.  In  these  years,  we 
have  reduced  depletion  to  a  most  wonderful 
minimum.  Out  of  what  would  have  been  the 
wrecks  of  our  former  system,  we  have  given  to 
our  high  school  a  great  rate  of  increase.  In 
these  years,  we  have  almost  absolutely  banished 
disorder,  and  have  promoted  a  marked  devel- 
opment of  character.  In  these  years  no  drudg- 
ery has  been  forced  back  upon  the  homes;  and 


22  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

no  sob  in  the  household  has  had  its  origin  in  the 
school.  And  so  I  might  go  on  indefinitely,  de- 
picting the  difference  between  a  school  that 
was  sick  and  a  school  that  is  well. 

And  the  remedy  for  those  evils  is  so  simple 
that  it  will  always  be  a  matter  of  wonder  that 
it  was  never  thought  of  and  appHed  before. 
Remedies  are  likely  to  be  simple. 

We  did  not  have  to  wait  weeks  and  months 
to  see  the  effect  of  individual  instruction  on  that 
room.  The  effect  was  instantaneous.  There 
was  suddenly  one  room  in  which  there  was  noth- 
ing the  matter.  The  teacher  who  had  been 
finding  it  all  wrong,  suddenly  found  .it  all  right. 
And  it  staid  all  right.  Though  she  had  jDcen  on 
the  verge  of  hysterics  with  forty-nine  she  was  as 
happy  as  a  parent  bird  when  the  number  had 
swollen  to  seventy-nine.  And  every  additional 
new-comer,  caused  a  smile  to  irradiate  her 
features.  The  same  children  that  had.  been 
killing  her  cured  her.  She  suddenly  discovered 
that  there  was  nothing  the  matter  with  her. 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  23 

Where  she  had  been  nagging  the  forty-nine  she 
was  clucking  the  seventy-nine.  And  not  one 
of  them  doubted  that  she  was  their  dearest 
friend,  and  not  one  of  them  failed  to  be  regarded 
as  the  rarest  child  on  earth. 

And  her  power  expanded  pari  passu  with  her 
affections.  She  laid  out  broader  schemes  of 
work.  A  healthy  mind  and  a  warm  heart  went 
foraging  for  the  children.  The  course  of  studies 
became  a  mere  skeleton  on  which  she  built  the 
rich  materials  of  her  own  providing. 

And  we  observed  in  her  what  we  have  since 
observed  in  all  the  rest  of  our  teachers,  that  it 
was  a  great  benefit  to  her  to  be  there  under  those 
conditions.  She  was  no  longer  a  martyr  to 
education.  She  took  on  health  continually, 
and  with  it  she  took  on  that  comeliness  that  is 
given  only  by  ripening  intelligence  and  expand- 
ing sympathies.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  no  one  in 
that  room  derived  greater  benefit  from  being 
there,  than  she  did  herself. 

She  became  part  of  the  social  life  of  the  town. 


24  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

And  her  great  stock  of  vigor  made  her  quite 
ready  for  social  demands.  And  from  her  con- 
tact with  refined  circles  she  brought  back  an 
increasing  refinement  and  breadth  of  view  to 
lavish  upon  the  children.  The  hysterical  teach- 
er has  no  vitality  left  for  social  demands  and 
nobody  wants  her.  Since  the  introduction  of 
individual  instruction  the  teachers  have  become 
the  foremost  ladies  of  the  place.  And  they  not 
only  bear  themselves  off  well,  but  they  are  prov- 
ing themselves  a  valuable  leaven  in  the  circles 
where  formerly  they  were  not  in  demand.  They 
are  showing  a  lively  interest  in  art,  history, 
sociology,  and  all  that  relates  to  the  improve- 
ment of  society. 

Now  as  to  the  children.  The  change  in  their 
case  was  just  as  striking  and  just  as  sudden  as 
in  the  case  of  the  teacher.  Almost  instantly 
it  became  manifest  that  no  child  in  that  room 
was  under  the  harrow ;  no  child  there  was  fighting 
down  a  bitter  thought  or  stifling  a  sob ;  no  child 
there  was  breaking  its  heart  in  pathetic  silence; 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  25 

no  child  there  was  wearily  waiting  for  the  great 
machine  to  move  on ;  no  child  there  was  turning 
in  desperation  to  that  well-known  party  who 
''always  finds  some  mischief  still  for  idle  hands 
to  do".  All  were  infused  with  the  spirit  of 
zealous  enterprise,  and  the  upraised  hands  and 
bright,  cheerful  faces  eloquently  reflected  the 
happiness  that  was  singing  at  the  heart. 

We  revelled  in  our  new-found  bliss  for  fully 
a  year  and  a  half  before  we  said  a  word  about  it. 
we  wanted  to  study  it  undisturbed;  we  wanted 
to  test  it  fully;  we  wanted  to  make  sure  of  it. 
We  knew  that  a  good  thing  needs  no  exploita- 
tion, and  that  a  bad  thing  should  not  be  ex- 
ploited. When  we  did  speak  it  was  in  response 
to  an  official  inquiry  from  the  State  Superin- 
tendent as  to  what  new  departures  had  been 
undertaken.  Since  then  the  literature  of  the 
matter  has  been  unfolding. 

But  to  return.  We  noticed  that  the  slant 
and  echelon  quickly  began  to  vanish  from  the 
room,  and  the  whole  grade  began  to  move  for- 


26  THE  BATxWIA  SYSTEM 

ward  at  a  rate  that  satisfied  everybody  and 
distressed  nobody.  And  at  the  end  of  the  year 
we  promoted  the  entire  room.  And  before  the 
end  of  the  year  we  had  no  occasion  to  push  for- 
ward anybody.  But  we  quickly  noticed  the 
effect  upon  our  register.  We  noticed  that  the 
rate  of  attendance  rapidly  waxed,  and  the  rate 
of  absence  rapidly  waned.  We  noticed  a  ten- 
dency toward  a  maximum  of  attendance;  and 
it  became  no  uncommon  thing  to  strike  that 
maximum,  to  have  actually  a  hundred  per  cent 
present.  We  learned  that  happy  children  are 
not  prone  to  get  sick,  and  that  interested  child- 
ren are  not  detained  out  for  trifling  causes. 

We  learned  that  all  children  may  be  educated. 
We  have  found  our  brightest  scholars  at  the 
lowest  end  of  our  slanting  line,  and  we  have 
found  our  strongest  characters  there.  Under 
our  old  system^ those  were  foredoomed.  Their 
disappearance  was  known  to  be  only  a  question 
of  time,  and  I  fear  that  it  was  a  consummation 
only  too  devoutly  wished.     Despair  on  one  side 


INDIVIDUAL   TEACHING  27 

and  resentment  on  the  other  could  have  but  one 
termination. 

It  is  true  that  some  minds  are  woefully  slow 
at  the  outset,  but  that  is  no  proof  of  incapa- 
bility. The  worst  error  of  teachers  is  to  assume 
incapability  and  therefore  to  repudiate  responsi- 
bility. You  have  in  this  error  the  cause  of 
much  of  the  depletion  in  schools.  The  fact  is 
that  the  heritage  of  the  average  child  is  a  heri- 
tage of  capability;  the  amount  of  real  incapa- 
bility is  so  small  that  it  may  be  dismissed  as  no 
appreciable  element  in  our  problem.  The  pro- 
per attitude  of  mind  in  a  teacher  is  to  assume 
capability,  and  then  struggle  sympathetically 
and  intelligently  to  make  that  capability  active. 
Once  aroused  to  confidence  in  its  powers,  the 
slow  mind  retains  its  momentum,  and  is  ever 
after  the  best  and  most  reliable  in  the  school 
and  in  the  world.  Class- teaching  sweeps  over 
such  a- mind,  or  would  hurry  it  along  with  the 
lash.  Individual  instruction  knows  no  lash. 
It  bends  in  intelligent  sympathy  to  the  real 


28  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

difficulty,  puts  courage  into  the  despairing  soul, 
arranges  a  sequence  of  efforts,  and  gradually 
calls  forth  or  builds  up  victorious  independence. 
Now  to  arrest  decimation  and  depletion  is  to 
have  a  most  wonderful  effect  upon  the  size, 
spirit,  and  results  of  a  school.  But  there  is 
another  side  to  the  decimation  and  depletion 
that  is  not  always  understood.  And  that  is  the 
condition  of  the  eliminated.  They  not  only 
disappear,  but  they  disappear  injured.  The 
mental  and  moral  injuries  may  be  for  the  present 
somewhat  vague  and  obscure;  but  the  physical 
injuries  are  all  too  real.  The  amount  of  physi- 
cal injury  alone  that  has  its  origin  in  schools  is 
very  great.  Schools  as  disease  centres  are 
receiving  the  deepest  attention  of  hygienists. 
I  am  persuaded  that  where  individual  instruc- 
tion is  provided,  no  child  will  become  sick  in 
consequence  of  going  to  school.  And  further- 
more I  am  convinced  that  an  ailing  child  may 
be  restored  to  health  by  being  placed  in  such  a 
school. 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  29 

And  so  I  might  go  on  indefinitely,  depicting 
the  transformation  which  individual  instruc- 
tion has  effected  in  our  children.  There  is 
scarcely  any  end  to  the  subject,  and  the  bene- 
fits are  manifold.  The  old  system  was  a  long 
catalogue  of  injurious  tendencies;  the  new  sys- 
tem is  by  contrast  an  endless  list  of  benefits. 

But  every  effect  has  its  cause.  We  have  been 
considering  most  wonderful  effects  upon  both 
children  and  teachers,  as  well  as  upon  the  com- 
munity. Let  us  now  turn  to  the  cause.  The 
cause  is  in  that  quiet  second  teacher,  who  is  not 
heard  at  all,  and  is  scarcely  seen,  the  teacher 
who  went  in  there  to  give  all  her  time  to  in- 
dividual teaching.  Our  grades  run  with  perfect 
smoothness  and  perfect  safety  since  we  have 
had  some  one  around  to  look  after  and  restore 
conditions.  I  know  no  vehicle  that  becomes 
more  suddenly  fouled  and  unworkable  than  a 
large  class  of  children,  and  we  have  recently 
learned  that  no  vehicle  may  be  more  promptly 
or  completely  relieved.     And  unless   relieved. 


30  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

the  graded  school  system  becomes  organized 
injury. 

The  mental  and  moral  injuries  are  no  less 
real  and  deplorable  than  those  of  a  physical 
nature.  School  is  a  most  profitable  place  for 
those  who  are  interested  in  their  studies  and 
who  are  doing  well  in  them;  it  is  a  most  per- 
nicious place  for  those  who  are  doing  poorly. 

But  many  a  parent  springs  to  the  rescue  of 
his  boy  before  it  is  too  late;  he  takes  him  out 
of  school  to  save  him.  And  he  either  puts  him 
into  a  workshop  to  learn  habits  of  industry, 
and  to  acquire  the  art  of  self-support,  or  he 
places  him  in  a  special  school  where  he  will  re- 
ceive the  personal  attention  which  his  peculiar 
weaknesses  demand.  And  here  we  have  another 
cause  of  the  depletion  of  public  schools. 

This  great  unrest  is  interpreted  in  various 
ways ;  but  I  think  that  its  real  explanation  is  a 
growing  public  consciousness  of  the  failure  of 
machinery  and  organization  in  and  of  them- 
selves to  accomplish  the  proper  education  and 
development  of  childhood  and  youth. 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  31 

Our  new  departure  amounted  to  a  decided 
innovation,  and  we  were  somewhat  curious  to 
see  how  the  people  would  regard  it.  It  was 
instantly  universally  popular.  All  classes  ap- 
plauded it.  They  said  that  it  was  the  most 
sensible  thing  ever  thought  of,  to  set  apart  a 
teacher  to  get  the  children  out  of  their  trouble. 
And  the  popularity  shows  no  sign  of  waning. 

The  work  of  our  second  teacher  may  be  under- 
stood perhaps  from  her  instructions,  which  were 
to  find  the  weak  spots  in  the  room  and  make 
them  the  strong  spots,  to  find  the  laggards  and 
bring  them  forward.  The  measure  of  her  work 
is  the  condition  of  the  room.  Her  work  may 
be  called,  what  it  truly  is,  ministration.  The 
work  of  a  ministering  angel  is  never  noisy  nor 
ostentatious,  but  it  is  the  very  breath  of  life 
to  those  upon  whom  it  is  exercised.  I  have 
perhaps  already  shown  that  the  class-teacher 
of  the  room  had  herself  become  filled  with  the 
spirit  of  ministry. 

We  were  wishing  for  other  overflowing  rooms, 


32  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

that  we  might  extend  this  dual  system.  And 
six  times  in  the  interim  they  have  been  reHeved 
in  the  same  way.  And  every  time  the  results 
have  been  exactly  the  same,  confirming  our 
belief  that  we  have  found  a  most  powerful  work- 
ing principle  of  education. 

But  how  about  the  rooms  that  were  not  over- 
flowing? We  did  not  feel  that  it  was  necessary 
to  put  two  teachers  to  doing  the  work  of  one. 
We  resolved  to  vary  the  experiment  and  make 
each  single  teacher  an  individual  instructor 
half  the  time.  The  effect  was  quite  as  surpris- 
ing as  in  the  case  of  the  two  teachers.  The 
single  teacher  brought  forward  her  own  laggards, 
relieved  her  room,  and  brought  it  into  a  condi- 
tion comparing  very  favorably  with  that  pre- 
vailing in  the  two-teacher  rooms.  So  we  have 
individual  instruction  throughout  our  entire 
system. 

This  is  the  Batavia  system  of  combined  in- 
dividual and  class  instruction,  a  system  which 
we  have  been  carefully  observing  and  testing 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  33 

for  the  past  three  years,  and  which  I  think  need 
not  any  longer  be  called  the  Batavia  experiment. 

It  is  the  merit  of  our  system  that  it  involves 
no  backward  step ;  it  is  not  in  the  slightest  degree 
destructive.  It  utilizes  every  bit  of  the  graded 
school  plant  and  frame-work,  and  even  the 
graded  school  instruction.  It  is,  as  we  see  it, 
a  great  step  forward.  It  takes  the  graded  school 
with  all  its  advantages  and  would  put  that 
school  into  the  best  working  condition.  It  is 
the  graded  school  transformed,  we  might  almost 
say  transfigured. 

It  is  the  graded  school  shaking  off  all  its 
destructive  tendencies  and  taking  on  the  ten- 
dency to  unalloyed  beneficence.  It  is,  we  be- 
lieve, the  evolution  of  the  graded  school. 

Wherever  multitudes  are  to  be  dealt  with 
in  any  way  some  kind  of  organization  is  a  prime 
necessity.  In  order  to  subject  our  great  mul- 
titudes of  children  to  educational  processes, 
some  kind  of  organization  is  fundamentally 
necessary.     It  would  be  financially  impossible 


34  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

to  place  a  tutor  with  every  child,  or  in  every 
household.  And  we  h^ve  already  shown  that 
if  it  were  possible,  it  is  not  desirable.  The 
children  need  to  be  assembled  with  their  fellows, 
and  economy  of  service  requires  that  they  should 
be  brought  together  in  groups. 

The  graded-school  system  admirably  meets 
this  two-fold  necessity.  It  is  a  superb  organiza- 
tion of  the  children  who  are  to  be  subjected  to 
processes  of  education.  It  is  one  of  the  great 
contributions  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  a 
decided  gain  to  the  world.  We  cannot  over- 
estimate its  great  value  and  usefulness.  It 
makes  universal  education  in  the  great  centres 
of  population  possible. 

But  neither  should  we  overlook  its  unfinished 
condition.  It  stopped  short  of  completion. 
And  in  that  incompleteness  lies  all  its  deadly 
possibilities.  It  is  the  steam-boiler  without  the 
governor,  the  steam  engine  without  the  fly- 
wheel. It  receives  an  ill-regulated  force  and 
applies  it  spasmodically  and  without  modera- 


INDIVIDUAL   TEACHING  35 

tion.  It  is  a  great  invention  lacking  some 
finishing  pieces. 

Such  lack  in  material  invention  is  the  defect 
in  the  logic  of  the  inventor.  But  no  inventor 
expects  his  first  machine  to  be  worth  anything. 
He  knows  that  he  does  not  see  his  way  tfirough ; 
he  knows  that  he  does  not  foresee  every  contin- 
gency. He  knows  that  he  must  eventually 
supplement  his  a  priori  ideas  with  those  that 
come  to  him  a  posteriori,  before  he  will  have  a 
thoroughly  adjusted  instrument.  His  principle 
is  his  own  inspiration,  but  he  must  get  his  crown- 
ing adjustments  from  trial. 

And  so  the  great  graded  school  system,  spring- 
ing from  a  mighty  conception,  is  yet  working 
somewhat  at  random  and  with  much  destruc- 
tive crankiness  because  of  not  having  its  finish- 
ing adjustments. 


Chapter  IV 

Official  Report  to  Albany"^ 
The  Batavia  schools  enjoy  the  distinction  of 
giving  the  world  something  entirely  new  in  edu- 
cational methods,  something  that  was  given  a 
thorough  trial  last  year  and  proved  so  unquali- 
fied a  success  that  it  is  likely  to  revolutionize 
the  public  school  systems  of  the  entire  country. 
It  has  already  attracted  the  attention  of  famous 
educators  and  is  being  thoroughly  investigated 
by  them.  The  following  report,  made  by 
Superintendent  Kennedy  to  the  Hon.  Charles 
R.  Skinner,  Superintendent  of  the  State  Depart- 
ment of  Public  Instruction,  and  forwarded  to 
Albany  today,  explains  in  detail  the  workings 
of  the  new  system  and  the  results  obtained  from 
it  during  the  past  year: 

"In  reporting  the  workings  of  our  school  the 
past  year  we  have  to  make  mention  of  one  very 


*From  the  Batavia  Daily  News. 

(36) 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  37 

marked  departure.  We  have  been  dividing 
our  rooms  as  rapidly  as  they  overflow,  but  we 
had  an  overflowing  room  this  past  year  that 
we  decided  not  to  divide.  As  the  room  was  very 
large,  thus  giving  no  trouble  on  the  score  of  air 
space,  or  hygienic  conditions,  it  occurred  to  us 
to  try  the  experiment  of  placing  an  extra  teacher 
in  the  room,  who  would  do  only  individual  work 
and  do  it  silently. 

''The  effect  has  been  at  once  a  revelation  and 
a  revolution.  It  revealed  to  us  how  to  lift  from 
our  graded  school  system  the  reproach  of  giving 
insufficient  individual  instruction.  We  seemed 
to  stand  between  education  en  masse  and  chaos. 
We  shall  hereafter  have  no  temptation  to  return 
to  chaos.  We  have  discovered  how  to  get  the 
benefit  of  organization,  and,  at  the  same  time, 
reach  the  needs  of  individuals.  We  have  al- 
ready extended  the  new  system  to  a  second 
room,  with  the  same  noticeable  and  gratifying 
results  as  in  the  first  instance. 

''Those  results  are  (a)  removal  of  discourage- 


38  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

ment.  Children  who  have  been  falHng  to  the 
rear  and  becoming  drags,  either  by  reason  of 
slowmindedness,  or  by  reason  of  unavoidable 
absence,  have  been  delighted  to  have  some  one 
show  them  a  way  out  of  their  trouble.  They 
have  taken  courage  and  moved  forward  into 
line,  causing  (b)  an  evenness  in  the  grades  that 
was  never  known  under  the  old  graded  school 
system.  And  their  coming  forward  caused  (c) 
a  more  rapid  movement  in  the  entire  grade,  so 
that  those  who  do  not  get  the  individual  in- 
struction directly,  get  it,  and  all  the  benefits 
of  it,  indirectly.  And  (d)  the  joy  of  the  parents 
at  the  idea  of  the  children  getting  individual 
attention   and   getting   on,    is   touching.     And 

(e)  the  enthusiasm  of  the  taxpayers  in  general 
is  quite  as  great  as  that  of  the  immediate  pat- 
rons. We  are  indebted  for  the  new  name  of 
our  system  to  one  of  the  large  taxpayers  who 
does  not  now  send  children  to  the  schools.    And 

(f)  we  save  yearly  a  large  sum  on  the  cost  of 
heating,  janitoring,  and  rent  of  rooms." 


I 


Chapter  V 

Relatiofi  to  Class  Teaching* 

The  Bat  a  via  system  has  been  in  operation 
nearly  seven  years,  having  been  started  in 
November  1898.  It  originated  in  the  observa- 
tion that  unrectified  mass-teaching  does  not 
work,  or  works  only  widespread  disaster.  The 
Batavia  system  supplies  the  corrective  in  the 
form  of  individual  teaching.  It  does  not  abolish 
class  teaching ;  but  it  frees  the  latter  from  clogs 
and  renders  it  operative;  it  not  only  enables 
class-teaching  to  move  forward  freely  and  un- 
obstructed, but  it  takes  from  it  every  tendency 
to  crush  and  grind.  It  is  the  corrector  and  the 
coadjutor  of  class  teaching,  rather  than  its  dis- 
placer.  That  children  who  are  falling  to  the 
rear  in  their  studies  suffer  keenly,  pitifully, 
often  dangerously,  I  think  none  will  deny.     The 


*The  next  six  chapters   are   from   an   address   delivered   at 
Westerly,   R.   I. 

(39) 


40  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

sob  may  be  stifled  in  the  school,  but  it  breaks 
out  in  convulsions  on  the  mother's  breast  at 
home;  or  it  is  revealed  on  wakeful  couches,  or 
in  the  mutterings  of  restless  sleep.  Well  for 
the  mother  if  it  is  not  revealed  in  the  delirium 
of  consuming  fever. 

Parents  suffer  with  their  children;  the  grief 
of  the  child  is  anguish  to  the  parents ;  the  trouble 
of  the  child  is  a  double  extra  labor  to  the  parent, 
already  exhausted  with  the  daily  burden  of  life; 
the  extra  labor  of  teaching  and  explaining;  the 
worrying  labor  of  teaching  what  parents  them- 
selves do  not  always  understand;  the  discourag- 
ing labor  of  teaching  in  a  state  of  exhaustion 
those  who  are  not  in  a  receptive  condition;  the 
extra  labor  moreover  of  ministering  in  the  lonely 
watches  of  the  night.  Well  for  the  children  if 
it  is  not  the  mother's  brow  that  is  attacked  with 
the  consuming  fever. 

Teachers  suffer  with  the  children.  With 
backward  dragging  children  hanging  like  a  dead 
load  on  her  strength,  the  teacher  soon  becomes 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  41 

conscious  of  worry  and  over-strain;  and  worry 
and  over-strain  work  with  accelerated  speed 
toward  collapse.  Then  arises  the  spectre  of  a 
new  worry  to  hasten  the  catastrophe ;  the  worry 
about  a  future  of  helplessness  totally  unpro- 
vided for. 

But  the  public  suffer  with  the  children,  the 
parents,  and  the  teachers.  The  ancient  plagues 
are  vanishing  before  the  militant  campaigns  of 
modern  sanitation.  But  a  new  plague  is  sweep- 
ing over  the  world  and  claiming  its  victims  by 
the  myriad.  This  is  the  plage  of  nervous  de- 
bility or  neurasthenia.  We  say  that  our  ner- 
vousness comes  from  the  fierce  competitions 
of  the  business  world,  oblivious  as  yet  to  the 
fact  that  the  cause  is  largely  in  the  schools. 
The  public  suffers  further;  it  suffers  in  the  loss 
of  those  who  should  be  its  pride,  its  hope,  its 
assured  protection;  it  suffers  by  the  presence 
of  those  who  are  its  annoyance,  its  menace,  its 
danger.  The  Batavia  system  tends  to  arrest 
all  that.     Incorrigibility   and   genuine  interest 


42  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

and  joy  in  school  work  are  almost  absolutely 
incompatible,  if  they  are  not  an  actual  contra- 
diction in  terms. 

Six  years  ago  it  occurred  to  Batavia  to  assign 
teachers  to  give  personal  attention  to  the  back- 
ward and  distressed  children ;  to  sit  by  their  side ; 
to  wipe  away  their  tears;  to  dispel  their  despair; 
to  quiet  ^heir  apprehensions ;  to  warm  them  up 
with  assured  sympathy ;  to  give  them  that  com- 
posure of  spirit  that  would  render  mental  action 
possible;  to  train  their  attention;  to  train  their 
apprehension;  to  train  their  reasoning;  to  train 
them  in  the  art  of  self -appropriation ;  to  awaken 
their  confidence;  to  fill  them  with  joyful  hope; 
to  arouse  their  ambition ;  and  to  send  them  back 
to  their  classes  filled  not  only  with  the  spirit  of 
confidence  but  with  the  very  spirit  of  challenge. 

The  Batavia  system  conserves  and  makes  use 
of  about  all  the  old  school  plant ;  yet  its  maxims 
and  philosophy  diverge  so  far  from  the  old  that 
it  might  almost  be  called  a  new  education.  It 
requires  either  that  half  the  teachers  shall  be 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  43 

assigned  to  individual  teaching,  or  that  half 
the  time  of  single  teachers  shall  be  employed 
on  individuals.  This  is  the  quantitative  feature. 
This  individual  teaching,  as  employed  in  Bata- 
via,  is  an  entirely  ;new  factor  in  education,  based 
upon  maxims  that  are  entirely  new,  and  leading 
to  results  that  are  surprising  to  all  who  see  them. 
In  the  past  six  years  the  schools  of  Batavia 
have  sent  back  only  sunshine,  safety  and  happi- 
ness to  the  homes.  Happy  schools  make  happy 
homes;  in  happy  homes  the  children  sleep  and 
bloom;  in  happy  homes  the  parents  sleep  and 
retain  the  bloom  so  needful  to  their  children. 
In  happy  homes  there  is  little  need  of  the  doctor, 
less  need  of  those  who  often  succeed  the  doctor. 
And  the  parents  are  prompt  to  recognize  the 
change.  The  Batavia  parents  said  immediate- 
ly: ''You  have  brought  sunshine  into  our 
homes."  A  visiting  school  officer  after  passing 
through  a  few  of  our  rooms  ceased  to  be  a  school 
officer  and  became  only  a  father;  he  ejaculated: 
**One  thing  is  certain;  this  system  must  go  to 


44  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

my  town  or  my  two  little  girls  must  come  up 
here.  I  have  had  one  daughter  wrecked  by 
that  old  harsh  system  and  I  don't  propose  to 
take  any  chances  on  the  other  two." 

"I  look  around  in  vain  for  the  anaemic  child; 
I  see  only  bloom,  wonderful  beauty,  and  spark- 
ling happiness.  It  makes  me  long  to  see  the 
people  that  will  be  walking  the  streets  twenty- 
five  years  hence."  So  spoke  a  distinguished 
educational  leader  and  writer,  an  expert  in  al- 
most every  phase  of  educational  work. 

Happy  schools  and  happy  homes  meet  every 
desire  of  childhood;  in  them  and  by  them  the 
children  are  safe-guarded  from  moral  danger. 
In  the  past  six  years  no  child  below  the  high 
school  has  been  required  to  take  home  a  single 
task.  School  hours  are  sacred  to  sweet  labor; 
but  labor,  be  it  ever  so  sweet,  is  not  permitted 
to  trench  upon  other  demands  of  life ;  it  is  locked 
in  with  the  books  and  empty  benches  when  the 
key  turns  at  three.  Back  work  of  any  kind, 
whether  due  to  slowness  of  mind  or  temporary 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  45 

absence,  is  treated  as  an  arrear  that  belongs 
solely  to  the  school,  and  by  no  means  to  the 
home  nor  to  the  parents.  And  those  arrears 
are  reached  during  school  hours  in  a  regular 
and  legitimate  way,  and  not  by  a  special 
imprisonment  after  school,  in  which  unhappy 
children  are  required  to  meet  in  the  character 
of  delinquents  teachers  who  are  in  a  state  of 
uncharitable  exhaustion.  The  Batavia  system 
makes  provision  for  every  possible  contingency, 
and  what  cannot,  and  should  not,  be  evaded, 
is  reached  under  conditions  that  are  entirely 
normal  and  salutary.  Nothing  that  should  be 
done  is  omitted  and  nothing  that  is  done  is  done 
in  the  spirit  of  fret  and  fury. 

Worry  is  all  gone;  no  one  worries  any  more, 
neither  teacher  nor  children.  And  where  worry 
is  gone  there  can  scarcely  be  any  over-work  or 
over-strain.  The  old  proverb  well  says:  "Not 
work  but  worry  that  kills."  Under  nervous 
depletion  any  work  is  over-work;  any  work  then 
is  dangerous.     With  good  nervous  vigor  one 


46  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

could  almost  work  the  twenty-four  hours 
through.  With  nervous  depletion  there  is  awful 
danger  even  in  a  thoroughly  sanitary  school- 
building  ;  with  nervous  vigor  and  spiritual  seren- 
ity, one  might  teach  school  safely  under  very 
bad  sanitary  conditions. 


Chapter  VI 

Children  Retained  in  School 

It  must  be  conceded  that  many  causes  out- 
side of  schools,  and  for  which  the  schools  are  not 
at  all  responsible,  contribute  to  the  emptying 
of  schools.  But  when  all  that  may  be  justly 
charged  up  to  those  outside  causes  are  massed 
into  an  aggregate,  they  will  be  found  to  consti- 
tute a  mere  rill  compared  to  the  great  stream 
discharged  by  the  school  itself.  The  untaught 
must  go. 

Every  school  child  is  at  every  moment  at  a 
crisis  in  his  career.  He  needs  not  only  freedom 
from  actual  violence,  but  he  needs  immediately 
that  active  and  sympathetic  guidance  and  en- 
couragement that  are  the  determining  factors 
in  his  career.  His  case  will  not  wait.  There 
is  little  hope  of  resuscitation.  His  only  hope 
is  in  formation,   not   in  reformation.     And  a 

(47) 


48  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

school  that  wotild  save  even  a  driblet  must  be 
just  to  all. 

"There  is  a  tide  in  the  affairs  of  (children) 
Which,  taken  at  its  flood,  leads  on  to  fortune; 
Omitted,  all  the  voyage  of  their  life 
Is  bound  in  shallows  and  in  miseries." 

Evil  finds  its  readiest  recruits  in  the  victims 
of  injustice.  When  the  school  has  lost  all 
charm  then  other  charmers  are  without  compe- 
tition. The  street  appeals  where  the  school 
loses  its  appeal ;  and  the  street  can  make  a  very 
active  hoodlum  out  of  a  ver}^  torpid  school-boy. 
To  inflict  the  slightest  injustice  in  the  school 
is  to  play  into  the  hands  of  the  street.  But  the 
drags  stay  in  school  long  enough  to  affect  the 
moral  stamina  even  of  the  quick.  The  school 
will  lose  its  charm  to  those  who  are  retarded  as 
well  as  to  those  who  are  downtrodden;  the 
stream  of  disappearance  is  not  restricted  to 
those  of  slow  or  timid  apprehension. 

The  Batavia  system  is  no  Darwinian  machine 
grinding  down  the  nineties  in  the  hope  that  the 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  49 

fives  or  tens  may  be  saved.  The  fives  or  tens 
may  survive,  but  they  are  not  saved.  The 
golden  opportunity  of  childhood,  that  opportu- 
nity which  can  never  be  recalled,  that  tide 
which  presents  its  flood  but  once,  is  lost  to  two 
classes  of  children,  to  those  who  are  dragging, 
and  to  those  who  are  dragged ;  and  that  is  about 
all  of  them;  for  about  all  the  children  in  school 
may  be  classed  either  as  drags  or  dragged. 

The  Batavia  system  is  not  a  place  for  getting 
rid  of  children;  it  is  a  place  for  retaining  them. 
No  child  in  the  Batavia  system  is  a  persona  non 
grata ;  no  child  in  the  Batavia  system  is  crowded 
to  the  wall,  and  through  it  into  the  street.  As 
a  result  the  great  vacuities  in  the  upper  stories 
have  been  filling  up ;  the  high  school  has  doubled ; 
and  grades  strong  in  numbers  and  strong  in 
confidence  and  in  study  power  are  sxirging 
around  its  threshold. 

Interest  in  their  studies  is  proving  to  the 
Batavia  children  a  great  moral  safeguard;  and 
an  atmosphere  of  spiritual  repose,  and  teachers 


50  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

who  are  sane,  sympathetic,  and  just,  are  pro- 
moting a  growth  in  goodness  that  is  very  re- 
markable. 

Of  the  increase  in  the  high  school  nearly 
seventy  per  cent,  is  boys.  If  you  would  get  a 
test  of  the  efficiency  of  a  school  system,  count 
the  boys  in  the  upper  stories.  Boys  succumb 
more  easily  than  girls  to  unjust  or  flabby  work 
in  schools;  boys  have  more  inducements  to  leave 
school  than  girls  have;  boys  are  more  exposed 
than  girls  to  influences  that  work  against  the 
school;  boys  are  more  likely  to  be  withdrawn 
from  school  than  girls  are.  We  say  that  they 
are  withdrawn  to  help  keep  the  wolf  from  the 
family  door.  This  is  sometimes  true.  It  is 
oftener  true  that  they  are  withdrawn  to  keep 
them  from  becoming  an  actual  burden  on  the 
family.  The  teeth  of  the  suppositious  wolf 
grow  very  dull  when  the  boys  are  keenly  inter- 
ested in  their  school  work  and  are  making  every 
moment  tell  for  improvement.  The  string  of 
withdrawal  is  not  on  the  dilligent  boy;  it  is  on 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  51 

the  boy  who  is  beginning  to  grow  hmp.  And 
parental  wisdom  never  did  itself  more  credit 
than  in  the  withdrawal  of  such  boys.  The  wolf 
bogie  serves  as  the  excuse,  not  as  the  cause. 
Nothing  is  more  fully  established  than  the  fact 
that  parents  will  make  the  last  sacrifice  to  keep 
in  school  the  boys  who  are  doing  well  there. 

But  there  are  other  compensations  than 
mone3^  ''Blessed  are  the  merciful  for  they 
shall  obtain  mercy;"  since  our  teachers  have 
been  lifting  from  their  children  the  load  of 
sorrow  and  discouragement,  they  have  been 
lifting  every  crushing  load  from  themselves. 
And  now  they  are  able  to  live  their  lives.  They 
are  not  now  so  nervewrecked  and  exhausted  as 
to  have  to  shun  society.  They  now  want  it, 
and  they  now  are  wanted ;  they  get  their  growth 
in  the  social  graces,  in  the  ease  of  manner,  and 
in  the  broadening  of  thought  which  contact 
with  society  alone  can  give ;  and  they  bring  back 
that  increased  grace  and  strength  to  bear  upon 
the  cultivation  of  their  pupils.     To  enrich  the 


52  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

course  of  studies  just  enrich  the  teachers;  they 
will  then  treat  the  course  of  studies  as  a  mere 
frame-work  on  which  to  build  the  honey  stores 
of  their  own  providing.  And  in  addition  to 
this  the  teacher  has  the  comfort  of  health  and 
assured  longevity. 


Chapter  VII 

^    Expense  Reduced 

But  does  not  this  two-teacher  system  in- 
crease the  expense?  No,  it  reduces  the  expense. 
There  are  actually  fewer  teachers  in  Batavia  than 
there  would  have  been  if  the  Batavia  system 
had  never  been  thought  of.  With  a  team  of 
teachers  you  can  assemble  more  than  two  sets 
of  children,  if  your  room  is  large  enough;  and 
the  stimulus  of  a  large  assembly  will  be  a  benefit 
to  all,  both  children  and  teachers.  With  large 
classes  that  are  free  from  drags,  the  teacher 
teaches  better  and  with  greater  ease.  The 
orator  needs  large  houses;  it  is  death  to  speak 
to  empty  benches.  And  how  he  does  plead 
with  the  sparse  audience  to  gather  up  around 
him.  And  so  it  is  in  class  work;  the  teacher 
finds  a  supporting  bouyancy  in  interested  mem- 
bers; and  they  call  out  from  her  a  breadth  and 

(53) 


54  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

depth  of  teaching  that  would  be  impossible  with 
a  few.  And  the  children  in  large  classes  that 
have  no  drags,  get  more,  and  more  varied  stimu-^ 
lus  than  in  a  small  one.  There  is  the  very- 
momentum  of  numbers;  there  is  supplied  the 
spur  of  emulation ;  there  is  the  attrition  of  many 
minds  upon  each  single  mind;  there  are  the 
sidelights  and  suggestions  that  come  from  many 
points  of  view.  But  especially  there  is  an 
audience,  a  public  in  miniature,  in  which  the 
child  can  train  himself,  or  be  trained,  to  public 
action  and  ultimate  civic  usefulness.  The  child 
is  on  his  way  to  community  life,  and  the  large 
class  supplies  the  means  for  a  community  train- 
ing. The  conditions  of  modern  life,  the  econo- 
mies of  the  situation,  the  nature  of  the  child, 
and  the  laws  of  teaching,  all  require  that  the 
children  shall  be  massed.  But  a  mass  and  a 
herd  are  very  much  alike;  and  therein  lies  all 
the  danger  in  wholesale  education.  Indeed  a 
herd  is  a  mass,  and  there  is  where  the  destruc- 
tive fallacy  enters.     The  children  need  to  be 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  55 

massed,  but  education  must  see  that  they  are 
never  herded. 

On  the  other  hand  there  is  no  greater  fallacy 
than  to  try  to  solve  the  school  question  by  cut- 
ting up  the  class  into  small  groups.  If  this  is 
done  for  the  purpose  of  reaching  the  individual, 
it  does  not  reach  him.  It  quadruples  the  ex- 
pense of  education  only  to  emasculate  it.  Hor- 
ace Greeley  said  that  the  way  to  resume  specie 
payments  is  to  resume.  The  way  to  reach  the 
individual  is  to  reach  him.  But  how  if  the 
groups  are  made  of  those  of  equal  aptness?  In 
other  words  how  about  forming  quick  sections 
and  slow  sections?  Yes,  how  about  branding 
the  children?  Was  there  not  suffering  enough 
without  attacking  the  child's  pride? 

In  the  Batavia  system  where  the  work  of 
two  teachers  is  not  needed  the  single  teacher 
carries  the  burden  alone.  And  she  does  it  well. 
She  does  her  individual  work,  and  she  does  her 
class  work;  and  she  does  both  equally  well,  in 
equal   intervals    of   time.     She   takes    care    of 


56  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

everybody  and  takes  care  of  all;  and  she  has  no 
need  to  blush  for  her  results  as  compared  with 
those  in  the  two-teacher  rooms.  The  Batavia 
rule  is,  fifty  children  or  more,  two  teachers; 
fewer  than  fifty,  one  teacher. 

But  how  about  an  ungraded  room  for  lag- 
gards? Our  doctrine  is  that  any  segregation 
whatsoever  is  unnecessary,  unwise,  and  unjust. 
The  ungraded  room  seems  to  us  the  most  ob- 
jectionable form  of  segregation.  It  is  a  quasi 
penal  institution,  designed  primarily  for  truants 
and  incorrigibles.  And  possibly  it  is  the  proper 
means  of  treating  juvenile  delinquents.  But 
how  about  ''running  in"  children  who  have  been 
guilty  of  no  offense  whatever?  children  who 
are  only  in  trouble?  and  herding  them  in  a  penal 
institution  with  criminals?  How  about  sending 
a  child  to  "do  time"  simply  because  he  has  been 
out  a  week  or  two  with  sickness? 

I  am  not  sure  that  even  truancy  and  incorri- 
gibility may  not  be  reached  best  by  the  justice 
and  sympathy  of  the  regular  grade  room.     Even 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  57 

violent  incorrigibility  is  amenable  to  good 
treatment;  Botticelli's  masterpiece  represents 
Lady  Wisdom  quieting  the  fierce  centaur  with 
the  hand  of  genuine  friendship.  The  wild 
creature  is  as  amazed  as  a  wild  boy  at  finding 
somebody  entertaining  kindly  feeling  for  him. 


Chapter  VIII 

Independence  Developed 

But  will  not  individual  teaching  train  the 
children  to  lean  and  depend  upon  others?  No, 
individual  teaching  will  not  do  that;  individual 
spoiling  will  do  it.  The  individual  teachers  of 
Batavia  train  their  subjects  to  self-confidence, 
self-reliance,  and  initiative.  The  trainer  in  any- 
physical  exercise  stays  near  his  pupil;  but  he 
throws  the  pupil  to  the  utmost  limit  upon  his 
own  exertions.  The  individual  teacher  is  just 
such  a  wise  and  efficient  trainer.  The  real 
education  of  the  children  consists  in  their  train- 
ing; and  training  is  largely  an  individual  matter. 
It  does  not  consist  in  assigning  and  hearing 
lessons.  That  is  the  way  of  evading  the  labors 
and  duties  of  teaching;  that  is  a  way  of  calling 
upon  children  to  educate  themselves.  The  in- 
justice that  is  depopulating  schools  and  break- 

(58) 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  59 

ing  down  education,  consists  in  asking  multi- 
tudes of  unhappy  children  to  educate  them- 
selves ;  of  asking  them  to  perform  the  impossible. 
There  comes  a  time  when  the  very  discipline 
that  the  child  needs  is  to  be  required  to  address 
himself  to  assigned  work,  and  make  his  own 
independent  preparation.  And  every  trained 
child  welcomes  the  requirement  when  it  reaches 
him  in  due  course.  When  he  can  face  assigned 
work  with  confidence  and  zest,  his  education 
and  career  are  assured.  Individual  teaching 
has  its  goal  in  self-activity;  it  is  not  a  form  of 
education;  it  is  only  an  essential  factor,  which 
cannot  be  omitted  without  wholesale  disaster. 
If  we  would  succeed  we  must  recognize  the 
conditions  and  laws  of  success.  The  Batavia 
system  guards  against  any  unwise  or  injudi- 
cious help  by  two  restricting  *'don'ts":  don't 
tell  the  child  anything  but  see  that  he  knows 
that  thing;  that  is  lead  his  mind;  train  his 
attention  and  train  his  mind  to  perceive  and 
apprehend;  second,  don't  do  anything  for  the 


60  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

child,  but  see*hat  his  work  is  done  by  himself; 
that  is,  train  him  to  initiative,  train  him  to  find 
the  sequent  steps  in  a  process.  This  is  to  make 
strong  and  stalwart,  not  weak.  There  is  no 
coddling  in  individual  teaching;  the  severest 
of  training  is  that  which  is  given  at  close  range. 
The  individual  teacher  is  fighting  for  a  mind, 
fighting  for  a  career,  and  winning  the  battle 
every  time.  It  is  great  teaching;  and  it  makes 
great  teachers;  and  great  teachers  can  do  great 
teaching.  It  is  great  teaching  because  it  is 
real,  because  it  is  rooted  and  grounded  in  ob- 
servation of  real  childish  minds.  There  are 
many  people  who  dote  upon  the  quick.  Those 
who  bend  their  attention  seriously  to  the  prob- 
lem of  child  study,  as  otir  individual  teachers 
do,  will  find  many  reasons  for  the  existence  of 
slow  children.  Among  other  things  they  are 
sent  to  be  our  teachers;  no  normal  school  and 
no  teachers'  college  can  illuminate  the  under- 
standing and  improve  the  skill  of  a  teacher  as 
can  a  slow  child.     ''Out  of  the  mouth  of  babes" 


I 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  61 

Cometh  our  instruction.  It  is  the  slow  child 
who  opens  the  teacher's  eyes,  when  she  once 
assumes  that  he  is  not  a  hopeless  blockhead. 
And  a  sympathetic  teacher  learns  to  thank  the 
momentary  unresponsiveness  of  the  child. 
Where  does  she  see  her  greatest  triumphs? 
Where  does  she  find  her  highest  gratifications? 
Where  does  she  recognize  the  causes  of  her 
ripened  wisdom  and  science?  In  the  children 
who  once  were  slow;  in  the  children  who  once 
set  her  meditating;  in  the  children  who  once 
taxed  her  ingenuity;  in  the  children  who  once 
called  out  her  last  reserves.  The  greater  the 
struggle,  the  more  obstinate  the  obstacle,  the 
greater  the  triumph. 

But  the  slow  child  doe^  a  higher  service  to 
the  teacher  than  opening  her  mind;  he  opens 
her  heart.  The  teacher  cannot  fail  to  love  the 
child  whom  she  has  won  out  of  trouble.  And 
the  teacher  who  has  learned  to  love  a  child  has 
learned  to  love  children.  And  the  love  of 
children   promotes   that   sympathy,    tolerance. 


62  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

charity,  which  are  the  very  crowns  of  human 
character.  Look  over  the  world  for  the  richest 
and  ripest  character;  it  is  the  motjier  who  has 
had  the  well-spring  of  her  sympathies  stirred, 
who  has  poured  out  her  life  upon  others;  and 
after  all  she  is  the  richest  of  all.  There  is  a 
giving  that  impoverishes  not,  but  mightily  en- 
riches the  giver.  This  heart  growth,  this  ripen- 
ing of  the  sympathies,  is  the  greatest  reward 
of  all  that  comes  to  the  teacher  for  being  faith- 
ful in  the  discharge  of  all  her  sacred  duties.  A 
sweet  benignity  alone  is  the  badge  of  noble  and 
successful  living.  And  what  a  power  this  sweet 
benignity  has  for  evoking  order,  contentment, 
good  conduct.  Order  needs  only  a  rallying 
point.  And  wh^t  a  steady  hand  and  clear  eye 
this  sweet  benignity  has  when  it  comes  to  weigh- 
ing an  offense;  it  never  sees  a  mountain  in  a 
molehill ;  it  never  senses  a  hurricane  in  a  zephyr. 
And  it  always  opens  the  door  to  reformation, 
holding  sentence  in  suspension. 

The  Batavia  system  has  still  another  check 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  63 

upon  possibly  injurious  individual  attention; 
the  teacher  alone  decides  where  her  attention 
will  be  given;  she  retains  the  initiative;  the 
children  cannot  "work"  the  teacher;  they 
have  the  comfort  of  knowing  that  their  helper 
will  not  forget  them,  but  they  cannot  precipi- 
tate the  help.  They  struggle  alone  with  pa- 
tience until  they  are  reached.  And  while  noth- 
ing is  looked  upon  as  invidious,  yet  they  have 
learned  to  look  upon  the  struggling  alone  as  a 
compliment.  While  no  one  is  exposed  to  dis- 
couragement, on  the  other  hand  no  one  can  feel 
vain,  for  no  one  knows  who  will  not  be  called. 
The  prodigy  himself  is  subject  to  call,  and  he 
often  needs  to  be  called.  This  individual  work 
is  never  employed  on  forthcoming  lessons;  the 
Batavia  system  is  not  a  coach  for  indolence, 
laziness,  or  even  timidity;  it  is  employed  solely 
on  children  who  revealed  weakness  in  previous 
lessons;  it  is  employed  solely  on  back  work;  it 
is  leading  the  children  up  to  the  lesson  line,  but 
not  taking  them  over  it.     And  even  the  prodigy 


64  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

may  at  times  be  in  arrears.  It  does  under  most 
favorable  circumstances  what  has  been  attempt- 
ed before  under  most  distressing  circumstances. 
It  brings  forward  the  laggard.  Teachers  have 
attempted  to  bring  him  forward  while  a  class 
waited;  such  an  attempt  was  ruin  to  the  class 
and  actual  torture  to  the  laggard,  even  where 
it  did  not  end  in  deliberate  persecution. 

The  elements  of  the  system  are  not  new; 
individual  teaching  in  some  form,  and  class- 
teaching,  are  as  old  as  education.  But  there 
are  elements  that  cannot  be  taken  singly  with- 
out great  peril.  Class-teaching  alone  is  a  side- 
draught  ;  individual  teaching  alone  is  stagnation ; 
together  they  are  a  system  of  thoroughly  balanc- 
ed forces  that  the  Batavia  system  claims  as 
its  principal  merit.  The  high  function  of  the 
superintendent  is  to  be  eyes  for  his  laboring 
teachers  and  inspiration  to  their  faithful  hearts. 
A  school  system  sinking  under  neurasthenia 
will  furnish  a  world  of  employment  to  the 
superintendent  as  a  mediator  in  petty  collisions. 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  65 

and  leave  him  little  time,  strength,  or  scope  for 
functions  truly  educatioanl.  One  great  result 
of  the  Batavia  system  is  the  emancipation  of 
superintendents  from  details  that  should  never 
reach  him,  and  his  installment  in  the  untram- 
meled  discharge  of  the  real  functions  of  high 
office.  The  Batavia  system  tends  to  stop 
multitudinous  leaks,  to  arrest  all  waste  of  energy 
and  to  promote  every  high  and  useful  function. 


Chapter  IX 

Organization  Humanized 

The  education  that  has  broken  down  is  the 
education  that  has  ignored  the  individual,  or 
reached  him  only  through  the  mass,  and  reached 
him  then  in  the  spirit  of  resentment,  because 
he  obstructed  the  mass.  That  education  is 
now  confronted  with  one  that  does  not  break 
down;  with  one  that  secures  the  individual  first 
and  reaches  the  mass  later;  with  one  that  is 
hospitable;  with  one  that  gathers  the  children 
to  its  bosom  instead  of  shaking  them  off;  with 
one  that  is  fair,  honest,  and  true. 

The  Batavia  system  humanizes  organization; 
it  prevents  organization  from  becoming  a  mere 
machine.  But  machines  are  very  helpful  as 
the  servants  of  intelligence.  The  Batavia  sys- 
tem recognizes  the  great  value  of  educational 
machinery,  but  it  sees  to  it  that  the  education 

(66) 


I 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  67 

of  the  children  is  not  delegated  to  a  machine, 
but  to  intelligent  and  sympathetic  human 
beings.  The  individual  teaching  takes  away 
everything  that  is  procrustean,  and  adapts  its 
energy  to  the  infinite  varieties  of  mind  and 
temperament.  A  cold  machine  treats  all  alike; 
whereas  what  is  thoroughly  suitable  for  one 
may  be  destructive  violence  to  all  the  rest. 
The  forest  leaves  have  their  underlying  type 
forms,  but  no  two  leaves  are  exactly  alike.  No 
two  children  are  exactly  alike.  We  fail  in 
teaching  through  our  tendency  to  generalize; 
we  assume  children  that  are  not  before  us;  there 
are  no  average  children,  and  yet  generalized 
education  addresses  itself  to  nothing  else.  If 
we  would  educate  a  people  we  must  address 
ourselves  to  John,  George,  Mary,  and  Anna;  not 
to  boys  and  girls.  Boys  and  girls  are  but  ghost- 
ly abstractions;  they  are  not  beings  of  flesh  and 
blood. 

A  machine  may  aid  in  the  manufacture  of  an 
Indian  shawl  or  rug,  but  when  the  machine 


68  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

makes  the  shawl  or  the  rug,  the  value  of  the 
product  drops  to  the  inverse  ratio  of  a  hundred 
fold.  You  cannot  grind  out  men  and  women 
for  the  service  of  a  state;  nor  can  you  grind  out 
men  and  women  fitted  to  taste  a  real  happiness. 
Teaching  is  a  fine  art,  and  every  man  worth 
looking  at  must  bear  the  impress  of  some  one's 
loving  attention.  Teaching  is  a  fine  art  be- 
cause it  is  an  adaptive  art  and  a  creative  one; 
it  is  a  fine  art  because  of  its  individualistic  ap- 
plication and  because  of  its  endeavor  to  realize 
the  noblest  ideals.  To  treat  children  as  a  herd 
is  to  render  education  a  mechanism  rather  than 
an  art. 

The  Batavia  system  is  the  reverse  of  seeking 
lines  of  least  resistance.  It  attacks  the  points 
of  greatest  resistance.  It  works  from  the  bot- 
tom up,  instead  of  from  the  top,  and  never 
getting  down ;  it  works  from  the  bottom  up  and 
saves  all,  instead  of  working  from  the  top  and 
shaking  off  all  below  the  top  line.  But  can  all 
work  up?     They  can.     There  is  such  a  thing 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  69 

as  a  feeble  minded  or  a  defective  child  who  will 
not  respond  to  ordinary  teaching.  But  it  is  a 
grievous  error  to  class  slow  children  with  de- 
fectives, to  put  the  label  of  idiocy  on  people 
who  in  a  few  years  may  be  carrying  on  the 
business  of  the  world,  and  carrying  it  on  with 
most  excellent  judgment. 

It  is  a  grievous  mistake  to  ascribe  to  natural 
defectiveness  a  mere  tardiness  of  response;  it 
may  be  the  exact  reverse;  nature  is  very  chary 
of  her  Isaac  Newtons,  her  Walter  Scotts,  her 
U.  S.  Grants;  she  surrounds  them  with  a  thicker 
bud,  a  richer  chrysalis,  that  their  emergence 
may  not  be  premature. 


Chapter  X 

Necessity  of  Graded  Schools 

To  determine  whether  a  school  system  is 
working  from  the  top  or  from  the  bottom,  look 
at  the  high  schools.  Would  you  insure  the 
perpetuity  of  free  institutions,  you  must  make 
the  high  schools  large  and  strong;  you  must 
keep  adolescence  under  training.  The  unity 
and  liberty  of  this  great  nation  cannot  be  pre- 
served by  fourth  grade  children.  Education 
from  the  bottom  is  the  only  hope  of  the  world; 
education  from  the  top  has  had  its  day. 

But  how  about  genius  in  a  school  system  that 
works  from  the  bottom,  and  that  would  carry 
all  to  a  common  goal?  There  is  such  a  thing 
as  genius,  just  as  there  is  such  a  thing  as  idiocy; 
they  are  the  extremes  of  mentality  and  spirit. 
Genius  cannot  be  predicated  of  all,  but  talent 
can  be.     Genius  is  very  well  provided  for  when 

(70) 


I 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  71 

it  is  associated  with  active  talent.  Active 
talent  massed  is  the  greatest  educational  stimu- 
lus for  all,  the  genius  as  well  as  the  rest.  Genius 
may  be  wrestling  with  his  own  tardy  cerements, 
and  active  talent  massed  helps  him  to  tear  them 
off,  and  active  talent  then  does  him  a  service 
by  giving  him  something  to  keep  up  with. 

The  race-horse  of  education  finds  his  needs 
best  supplied  in  a  system  that  does  not  address 
itself  to  race-horses.  Education  from  the  bot- 
tom lifts  the  clogs  successively  and  enables  the 
procession  to  move.  The  Batavia  system 
reaches  the  need  of  the  race-horse  by  giving 
him  his  rein  and  permitting  him  to  move.  It 
^  does  not  keep  him  champing  on  the  bit  and 
fretting  himself  into  an  exhaustion  infinitely 
worse  than  any  race.  The  Batavia  system 
does  not  ignore  the  race-horse;  it  even  assigns 
to  him  a  very  important  function.  He  is  per- 
mitted to  determine  the  rate  of  motion  for  the 
mass;  not  that  they  are  all  put  instantly  on  to 
race-horse  speed;  but  they  form  on  him;  he 


72  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

carries  the  guidon,  as  it  were,  and  they  all 
conform  to  a  pace  which  his  energy  is  giving 
them.  Sometimes  they  even  put  him  on  his 
mettle.  The  worst  thing  that  could  be  done 
for  an  educational  race-horse  would  be  to  ask 
him  to  go  alone,  or  to  go  only  with  a  company 
of  race-horses. 

To  destroy  the  graded  school  is  to  put  back 
the  clock  of  time  half  a  century.  Segregation 
of  any  kind  is  only  the  beginning  of  retrogres- 
sion. The  solution  of  the  school  question  is  in 
a  forward  moving  aggregation,  and  such  a  for- 
ward moving  aggregation  is  ensured  by  supple- 
mentary individual  teaching.  But  there  are 
instances  where  the  same  individual  is  at  cnce 
a  leader  and  a  laggard:  that  is,  he  is  far  ahead 
in  some  subjects  and  backward  in  others.  Such, 
a  case  was  a  sore  trial  to  the  old  graded  school, 
and  it  usually  resulted  in  placing  the  pupil  on 
his  lowest  point  of  efficiency.  Such  cases  do 
not  disturb  the  Batavia  system  at  all ;  the  child 
is  placed  at  his  highest  point,  very  much  to  his 


INDIVIDUAL   TEACHING  73 

encouragement;  he  is  worked  up  through  his 
backward  matter  by  individual  attention.  Here- 
in the  needed  flexibiUty  is  suppHed  to  the  graded 
school  without  destroying  or  marring  its  valuable 
framework.  When  you  are  travelling  it  is  well 
to  be  able  to  look  over  a  map  of  your  journey. 
The  graded  school  is  the  map  of  childhood's 
progress,  fixing  his  exact  location  at  any  point 
of  time,  and  revealing  the  ultimate  goal.  This 
supplies  a  great  incentive  to  forward  movement. 
One  distressing  thing  in  the  district  school  is  the 
lack  of  definite  stages,  and  its  lack  of  a  definite 
goal.  The  child's  record  is  washed  away  like 
footprints  on  the  sands  of  the  sea-shore,  until 
he  becomes  wearied  of  always  slipping  back, 
and  always  beginning.  Organization  has  worked 
downward;  to  the  four  years  of  the  college  were 
appended  the  four  years  of  the  preparatory  or 
high  school;  and  the  eight  years  of  the  graded 
school  finally  put  every  child  on  the  way  to  the 
university.  But  under  the  operation  of  ex- 
clusive   class-teaching    this    noble    framework 


74  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

became  a  procrustean  bed,  and  we  were  rushing 
from  all  over  the  world  to  effect  its  abolition. 
The  Batavia  system  saves  the  graded  school; 
it  prevents  retrogression.  Forward,  not  back- 
ward, must  still  be  the  motto  of  education,  as 
well  as  that  of  every  other  interest  in  the  world. 
Every  teacher  considers  it  an  easy  contract  to 
deliver  any  grade  without  a  single  gap  in  the 
ranks.  Prol6nged  absence  alone  will  now  cause 
a  normal  pupil  to  fail  of  covering  his  grade. 
With  individual  teaching  awaiting  the  absentee, 
a  moderate  absence  makes  now  not  the  slightest 
disturbance.  Under  the  old  system  such  an 
absence  was  disastrous;  the  sick  child  queried 
whether  it  would  make  him  lose  his  grade,  and 
the  very  query  aggravated  his  illness. 

And  now  let  me  close  with  a  word  of  prescience 
and  prophecy  from  another.  The  Batavia 
board  of  education  hesitated  not  to  make  its 
own  precedent  and  to  give  to  its  children  the 
rescue  which  individual  teaching  alone  can 
supply.     When  asked  to  appoint  the  first  in- 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  75 

dividual  teacher  in  the  history  of  education; 
after  hearing  the  reasons  therefor,  they  prompt- 
ly appointed  her  unanimously.  President  D. 
W.  Tomlinson  voiced  the  thought  of  all  with  an 
alliterative  utterance  that  will  ring  forever  in 
the  literature  of  education:  ''That  is  not  only 
a  revelation  but  a  revolution.'* 


Chapter  XI 

Benefits  Summarized^ 

Superintendent  Kennedy  was  asked  by  a 
reporter  for  The  News  to  enumerate  some  of  the 
benefits  derived  from  the  individual  instruction 
system,  which  he  originated,  and  the  workings 
of  which  in  the  Batavia  schools  have  attracted 
much  attention  throughout  the  country. 

''What  are  the  benefits  of  individual  instruc- 
tion? They  are  legion.  It  would  take  columns 
merely  to  state  them.  To  discuss  them  would 
require  a  literature.  And  I  am  sure  that  such 
a  literature  is  forthcoming.  I  am  sure  that  the 
introduction  of  individual  instruction  will  rank 
historically  as  one  of  the  great  reforms  of  this 
age.  People  have  long  been  aware  of  the  evils 
for  which  individual  instruction  is  proving  a 
sovereign  and  effective  remedy.     But  they  have 


*From  the  Batavia  Daily  News 

(76) 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  77 

not  seen  the  remedy.     They  have  almost  des- 
paired of  a  remedy. 

"Individual  instniction  eliminates  about  all 
the  pressure  and  over-strain  in  schoolwork  that 
have  been  destroying  both  children  and  teachers. 
Where  the  corrective  of  individual  instruction 
has  been  introduced  into  graded  schools  the 
teachers  think  that  it  is  no  longer  possible  for 
either  children  or  teachers  to  break  down.  It 
has  dispelled  all  the  educational  miasma,  and 
has  irradiated  the  schools  with  the  sunshine  of 
happiness.  But  it  has  carried  sunshine  into  the 
homes  where  chronic  misery  was  wont  to  reign, 
where  threatened  children  carried  home  their 
unready  tasks  to  torture  unready  parents." 


Chapter  XII 

The  First  Individual  Teacher 

Lucie  Hamilton,  the  firvSt  teacher  to  use  the 
system,  writes  as  follows. 

Batavia  as  a  name  has  long  been  recognized 
to  stand  not  only  for  a  place  but  also  as  an 
educational  idea.  The  influence  which  the  town 
exerts  finds  its  source  and  continued  inspiration 
in  the  originator  of  that  idea.  Through  the 
key  note  "Individual  Instruction  is  the  New 
Ideal*'  sounded  by  John  Kennedy,  we  have 
learned  that  the  most  successful  teaching  is 
not  done  in  classes  but  with  individuals. 

Our  daily  program  moves  on  with  increasing 
momentum  which  carries  the  whole  school 
before  it,  with  no  excitement  or  hysteria,  yet 
with  enough  enthusiasm  for  self  development. 

As  a  teacher  of  some  experience  in  the  grades 
of  the  Batavia  schools  under  the  old  nerve- 

(78) 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  79 

racking,  energy-killing  method  and  being  the 
first  teacher  to  take  up  the  work  under  the  new 
system,  I  speak  in  the  interests  of  many  over- 
worked teachers  and  hundreds  of  children  who 
are  not  receiving  adequate  training. 

The  plan  or  system  was  devised  by  its  origi- 
nator from  necessity  and  has  as  its  foundation 
facts. 

Our  success  in  the  work  proves  that  the 
problem  of  removing  the  greatest  difficulty  in 
the  practical  working  of  the  graded  school  has 
been    removed. 

In  1890  the  writer  was  forced  through  ill 
health,  the  result  of  over- work  as  a  teacher 
struggling  with  the  difficulties  inseparable  from 
the  old-time  system  of  class  instruction,  to 
give  up  her  work.  In  1898  the  Batavia  System 
was  founded.  At  this  time  with  health  some- 
what restored  I  was  recommended  by  Mr. 
John  Kennedy  to  the  position  of  first  individual 
instructor  in  the  Batavia  schools,  which  posi- 
tion, however,  was  taken  with  some  hesitancy 


80  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

on  my  part  but  with  positive  assurances  of 
success  on  Mr.  Kennedy's  part. 

Assigned  to  an  over-crowded  room  having 
sixty-nine  pupils,  under  the  training  of  a  single 
teacher,  whose  health  was  rapidly  failing,  the 
work  began  under  the  new  plan  in  November, 
1898.  Possible  dangers  were  foreseen  by  Prof. 
Kennedy  in  connection  with  the  work  of  the 
individual  teacher  and  there  were  possible  mis- 
apprehensions that  might  bring  about  criti- 
cisms; so  to  us  were  given  three  Don'ts. 

' 'First,  Don't  tell  a  child  anything  but  see 
that  he  knows  it." 

"Second,  Don't  do  anything  for  a  child  but 
see  that  it  is  done." 

"Third,  Don't  do  anything  upon  a  lesson 
that  has  not  been  recited." 

Through  these  "don'ts"  the  individual  in- 
structor guarded  against  the  danger  of  doing 
the  work  for  the  pupils  instead  of  teaching  them 
how  to  do  it.     The  individual  teacher  comes  to 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  81 

realize  that  the  largest  part  of  his  work  is  to 
huild  and  not  repress. 

From  the  first  the  originator  of  this  system 
declared  that  individual  instruction  would  never 
be  the  normal  form  of  teaching  but  that  child- 
ren must  be  assembled  in  classes,  drilled,  trained 
and  educated  in  the  presence  of  their  classmates, 
because  they  need  the  spur  of  competition. 
But  the  results  are  not  to  be  secured  by  class 
instruction  alone.  The  Batavia  system  dis- 
closes the  fact  that  children  apparently  defec- 
tive are  often  those  whose  minds  are  brighter 
than  the  average  and  for  this  reason  require  a 
different  and  peculiar  development  which  can 
only  be  given  by  individual  instruction. 

Under  the  old  system  we  mechanized  the 
work  of  instruction  and  training,  made  all 
pupils  do  the  same  work  at  the  same  time,  in 
the  same  way.  This  was  the  tendency  of 
teachers  who  were  young  and  inexperienced 
and  some  times  the  tendency  of  teachers  not 
young  and  inexperienced.     Then  we  scattered 


82  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

abundant  seed  but  reaped  but  little  or  meager 
harvest.  We  were  careful  of  the  type  but 
careless  of  the  single  life. 

It  is  in  individual  work  that  a  knowledge  of 
each  pupil  can  be  utilized.  Teaching  can  thus 
be  adapted  to  special  needs;  patience  with  one, 
firmness  with  another,  trained  attention  here, 
cultivation  of  memory  there,  stimulation  of 
confidence  with  some  and  a  proper  guidance 
for  all.  Today  under  the  new  system  we  think 
less  of  our  schools  and  more  about  the  hoy  or 
girl,  knowing  that  the  mass  will  take  care  of 
itself  if  the  individual  is  properly  cared  for.  We 
also  get  a  proper  recognition  of  the  perso'nality 
of  the  child  through  this  work.  The  child  has 
a  new  value.  The  dull  pupil,  the  laggard  was 
found  and  has  been  reached  and  in  many  cases 
we  see  him  the  leader  of  his  class. 

Most  satisfactory  results  have  been  secured 
in  the  Batavia  schools  under  the  Batavia  sys- 
tem during  these  fifteen  years.  Each  year, 
during  that  time  I  have  been  anchored  to  a 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  83 

given  room  in  some  one  of  our  many  schools; 
sometimes  to  a  two-teacher  room  with  two 
grades,  then  again  to  a  room  with  two  teachers 
and  one  grade  or  perhaps  one  grade  with  one 
teacher.  Always  the  same  satisfactory  results, 
seeing  the  system  extended  to  the  relief  of  many 
rooms,  receiving  commendations  and  endorse- 
ments from  those  who  are  foremost  in  educa- 
tional work  in  the  land. 

But  the  system  is  not  confined  to  the  Batavia 
schools.  Several  of  our  teachers  have  been 
called  to  the  colleges  in  other  states  to  present 
the  work.  Some  few  years  ago  a  request  came 
from  the  University  of  Virginia  at  Charlottes- 
ville, to  Mr.  Kennedy  asking  for  two  teachers 
to  be  sent  from  the  Batavia  schools  to  present 
the  Batavia  system  to  the  teachers  assembled 
for  summer  school  work  at  Charlotetsville. 

Miss  Martha  Ferry,  principal  of  one  of  the 
Batavia  schools  and  the  writer  of  this  article 
were  honored  with  the  assignment  to  the  work 
for  a  period  of  six  weeks.     Great  interest  was 


84  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

manifested  in  the  plan  and  its  practical  workings 
with  the  seventy  teachers  who  made  up  the 
classes  for  class  instruction  and  individual 
work,  and  we  left  the  University  knowing  that 
the  future  fruits  of  our  work  would  reflect 
credit  on  the  Batavia  schools  as  a  source  of  a 
far  reaching  reform.  From  this  experience  of 
15  years  of  individual  instruction  as  a  supple- 
ment and  corrective  to  class  teaching  I  am 
forced  to  regard  it  an  imperative  educational 
reform. 


Chapter  XIII 

Experience  of  Another  Individual  Teacher 

I  have  had  eleven  years  experinece  teaching 
in  the  Batavia  schools  under  the  Batavia  sys- 
tem of  Individual  Instruction.  Most  of  my 
teaching  has  been  done  in  the  fifth  and  sixth 
grades  doing  both  class-teaching  and  individual 
instruction  myself.  During  this  time  the  pupils 
of  these  grades  with  the  help  of  individual  in- 
struction, have  not  only  been  able  to  make  one 
grade  in  one  year  but  some  have  gained  two 
grades  in  one  year,  the  bright  as  well  as  the 
slow  child  being  helped. 

I  have  also  taught  three  summers  in  the 
School  of  Observation  in  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania  at  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  demon- 
strating the  Batavia  Individual  Instruction 
System.  My  work  was  visited  and  observed 
by  many  superintendents,  principals,  teachers 

(85) 


86  *     THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

and  students  from  the  various  parts  of  the 
country  who  became  so  much  interested  that 
many  requests  were  made  for  literature  per- 
taining to  the  Batavia  System  and  for  daily 
programs  of  the  work  of  all  the  grades.  These 
were  carefiilly  studied  and  worked  out  in  many 
of  the  schools  it  was  afterward  reported  that 
the  Batavia  System  had  been  adopted  in  their 

schools. 

Anna  K  Stein. 


I 


Chapter  XIV 

Views  of  a  New   York  Superintendent^^ 

To  the  Honorable,  the  Board  of  Education: 
Gentlemen:  Your  committee  report:  That 
on  the  13th  and  14th  inst  they  made  an  exhaus- 
tive investigation  into  the  general  plan  and 
details  of  the  methods  of  organization  and  in- 
struction as  now  carried  out  in  the  schools  of 
Batavia,  visiting  every  department  in  the  central 
school  building,  from  the  lowest  grade  primary 
through  the  high  school. 

By  request  of  the  other  members  of  your 
committee  your  Superintendent  remained  two 
full  days,  devoting  three  evenings  to  consulta- 
tion involving  every  phase  of  the  work,  with 
Superintendent  Kennedy,  visiting  every  school 
room  in  the  seven  school  buildings  of  the  town, 
observing  minutely  the  plan  of  instruction  in 


*  Report   of    Barney  Whitney   to  the    Ogdensburg  board  of 
education 

(87) 


88         .  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

every  grade  of  the  schools,  and  interviewing  at 
least  thirty  of  the  teachers. 

Your  committee  without  reserve  express 
their  unqualified  appreciation  and  approval  of 
the  organization  and  methods  pursued. 

The  entire  absence  of  unrest,  inattention, 
listlessness,  or  any  form  of  disorder  on  the  part 
of  pupils;  or  of  severity,  reproof,  or  even  refer- 
ence to  conduct  or  application  on  the  part  of 
the  teachers,  was  a  most  agreeable  surprise. 
No  harshness,  no  reproaches  or  threats,  no  in- 
vidious comparisons,  no  sarcasm  or  reproachful 
remarks  were  observed  nor  would  such  treat- 
ment be  tolerated.  So  manifest  were  these 
conditions  that  a  representative  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Public  Instruction,  who  had  just  closed 
his  visit  to  these  schools,  commending  upon  the 
above,  said  to  me  on  my  arrival,  "They  have 
no  discipline  in  these  schools."  What  he  meant 
was,  it  is  the  highest  form  of  discipline.  The 
scholarship,  intelligence,  self-reliance,  discipline, 
cheerfulness,  and  devotion  to  wrok,  surpassed 


I 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  89 

anything  we  ever  heretofore  observed.  We 
sought  dihgently  for  the  causes  which  lead  to 
such  marked  efficiency  and  are  clear  in  our 
judgment  that  they  are  attributable,  mainly, 
to  the  plan  of  organized  individual  instruction 
as  the  supplement  and  corrective  of  exclusive 
class  instruction. 

The  great  defect  of  our  educational  system 
is  in  making  complete  provision  for  the  masses 
upon  the  false  assumption  of  equality  in  the 
nature,  conditions  and  environment  of  children; 
and  its  conspicuous  failure  to  meet  individual 
needs  by  a  disregard  of  the  fact  that  the  nature, 
circumstances  and  environment  of  the  children 
are  as  various  as  the  children  themselves. 

The  remedy — the  equity,  the  special  means 
of  relief,  in  our  educational  system — ^is^to  be 
found  in  organized  individual  instruction  as  the 
supplement  and  corrective  of  exclusive  class 
instruction.  This  is  in  the  direction  of  the 
present  movement  of  education  viz:  ''Con- 
structive Individualism." 


90  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

The  Batavia  experiment  is  based  upon  the 
recognition  of  this  principle.  It  assumes  that 
every  normal  child  can  be  brought  forward  even 
above  the  average,  and  be  effectively  educated. 
It  assumes  that  the  worry,  discouragement, 
pressure  and  overstrain  of  teachers  and  pupils 
may  be  practically  eliminated  from  the  school 
room,  and  that  nearly  all  can  be  promoted  from 
grade  to  grade,  and  that  the  incentives  or  neces- 
sity for  placing  pupils  beyond  their  grade  rarely 
occur.  It  claims  that  their  system  of  instruc- 
tion eradicates  from  the  schools  practically  all 
the  dull  pupils,  the  stupid,  the  laggards,  and 
that  the  bright  pupils  find  it  all  they  can  do  to 
keep  in  touch — to  keep  up — with  the  hereto- 
fore slow  pupil.  It  was  the  purpose**  of  your 
committee  in  their  investigations  to  discover 
the  truth  in  relation  to  these  claims. 

The  plan  of  instruction  assumes  two  forms, 
or  rather  is  applied  under  two  different  condi- 
tions. In  over-crowded  rooms  an  additional 
teacher  is  employed  to  do  silent  work — indi- 


I 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  91 

vidual  instruction — devoting  her  entire  time  to 
this  form  of  work;  while  the  teacher  in  charge 
devotes  her  entire  time  to  class  instruction. 
We  found  not  the  slightest  confusion  or  inter- 
ruption of  the  two  teachers  in  the  same  room. 
This  plan  is  ideal  and  unquestionably  produces, 
on  the  whole,  a  slightly  higher  degree  of  effi- 
ciency. It  saves  the  division  of  pupils  and 
providing  an  additional  room;  and  a  large  num- 
ber of  pupils  can  be  easily  and  satisfactorily 
handled.  There  are  six  rooms  thus  supplied. 
In  rooms  in  which  there  are  not  more  pupils 
than  one  teacher  can  efficiently  instruct,  which 
includes  all  rooms  except  the  six  mentioned,  the 
teacher  gives  both  forms  of  instruction,  devot- 
ing one-half  the  time  to  each,  the  periods  of 
individual  and  class  instruction  in  each  subject 
alternating. 

This  plan  does  in  no  way  increase  the  teaching 
force  or  expense.  It  works  admirably  and  gives 
excellent  satisfaction.  It  secures  vastly  super- 
ior results  in  every  phase  and  condition  of  school 


92  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

work  to  the  old  plan  of  exclusive  class  instruc- 
tion. 

Not  the  slightest  embarrassment  or  friction 
attends  this  plan.  Ample  time  is  found  for 
accomplishing  all  the  work.  Pupils,  by  means 
of  individual  instruction,  rapidly  acquire  greater 
ability  in  class  instruction.  The  teacher,  also 
by  the  method  pursued,  acquires  greater  power 
in  class  instruction  and  accomplishes  more  in, 
the  lessened  ntimber  of  recitation  periods  than 
could  be  obtained  under  the  plan  of  exclusive 
class  instruction. 

The  special  business  of  the  individual  teacher 
is  to  find  the  weak  spots  in  each  individual  pupil 
and  make  them  the  strong  spots.  It  is  marvel- 
ous what  aptitude  a  slow,  or  so-called  dull  pupil, 
manifests  when  discouragement  is  removed  and 
when  once  aroused  to  the  consciousness  of  his 
or  her  ability ;  and  such  pupils  almost  invariably 
assume  a  position  among  the  strongest  and  most 
reliable  pupils  in  the  class.  We  searched  for 
the  slow  and  dull  pupil,  but  failed  to  find  one. 


I 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  93 

We  inquired  for  pupils  who  were  at  first  slow  of 
apprehension  and  apparently  weak  in  the  mas- 
tery of  a  subject.  We  had  such  thoroughly 
tested  and  were  surprised  at  the  clearness  and 
mastery  of  the  subject  in  hand. 

We  had  also  pupils  tested  who  were  unusually 
apt  upon  entering  the  schools,  that  we  might 
make  a  comparison  in  the  work  accomplished 
and  ability  to  clearly  comprehend  the  work  in 
hand.  We  found  little,  if  any,  disparity  in  the 
two  classes  of  pupils.  Indeed  the  stronger  and 
so-called  bright  pupils  are  more  frequently  found 
among  the  aroused  pupils  who  at  first  were  slow 
and  possibly  considered  dull.  It  is  the  simplest 
plan  or  method  possible.  It  does  not  disturb 
the  organization  of  the  school  in  the  least;  it 
requires  only  a  slight  modification  of  the  pro- 
gramme. It  is  in  harmony  with  the  graded 
system.  It  is  only  slightly  modified  in  its  ap- 
plication. It  is  assumed  that  the  best  results 
can  be  secured  in  and  through  the  graded  system 
by  a  slight  modification  of  it  in  its  application. 


94  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

This  plan  of  work  is  now  and  has  been  for 
nearly  three  years  in  complete  operation  in  all 
the  schools,  primary,  grammar  and  high  school. 
The  testimony  of  every  teacher  is,  without  the 
slightest  hesitation  or  reservation,  pronounced 
in  favor  of  the  present  plan  of  organization  and 
instruction.  A  proposition  to  abandon  the 
present  mode  of  instruction  and  return  to  the 
former  plan  would  be  met  with  the  most  em- 
pahtic  protest  from  the  teachers,  pupils  and 
patrons. 

The  doctrine  of  ministration,  personal  service, 
has  found  its  way  into  their  schools.  Too  ex- 
clusive administration,  regulating,  dictating, 
has  been  the  bane  of  our  public  schools.  A  new 
dispensation  of  service  is  dawning  upon  our 
educational  system. 

The  walls  of  every  room  in  the  grades  are 
literally  lined  with  written  work  embracing 
every  subject  of  instruction  in  the  respective 
grades.  This  work  is  of  a  higher  order  of  ex- 
cellence than  is  to  be  found  in  any  class  of  schools 
we  have  ever  examined. 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  95 

We  are  fully  prepared  from  an  examination 
of  the  written  work,  the  class  exercises  and  tests 
given,  together  with  the  record  in  the  high  school 
to  accept  the  united  testimony  of  superintendent 
and  teachers,  that,  with  rare  exceptions,  all 
pupils  can  be  moved  simultaneously  from  grade 
to  grade  and  that  by  their  plan  of  instruction, 
semi-annual  promotions  and  doubling  of  classes 
in  a  grade  are  unnecessary. 

The  increased  standings  obtained  in  Regents* 
examinations  in  the  high  school  the  past  year, 
i.  e.,  the  number  who  passed,  the  number  re- 
ceiving honors  and  the  number  receiving  100 
in  many  of  the  advanced  subjects  were  50  per 
cent,  higher  than  the  year  before.  These 
results  I  took  from  the  records  of  the  institution. 
They  are  attributable  directly  to  the  influence 
of  individual  instruction. 

The  plan  is  so  simple  that  it  can  be  introduced 
into  any  school  room,  and  any  conscientious, 
progressive,  and  intelligent  teacher  can  secure 
incomparably  better  results  than  by  the  plan 
of  exclusive  class  instruction. 


96  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

This  plan  of  instruction,  instead  of  producing 
dependence,  as  is  sometimes  erroneously  suppos- 
ed, produces  just  the  reverse.  We  have  never 
seen  more  independent  thinking  and  self-reliant 
pupils  than  in  the  Batavia  schools. 

This  experiment  is  attracting  wide-spread 
attention.  At  the  State  Council  of  superin- 
tendents in  New  York  state,  last  October,  and 
at  the  recent  National  Superintendents'  meeting 
in  Chicago,  at  both  of  which  Superintendent 
Kennedy  was  invited  to  present  this  matter, 
intense  interest  has  been  aroused.  Dr.  G.  Stan- 
ley Hall,  president  of  the  Clark  university  said: 
"Individual  instruction  sounds  the  key-note  of 
education  for  the  next  decade." 

State  Superintendent  Skinner  has  officially 
endorsed  the  plan.  The  Department  of  Public 
Instruction  and  Department  of  the  Regents 
sent  representatives  to  Batavia.  They  un- 
qualifiedly endorsed  the  plan. 

F.  Thiselton  Mark,  Professor  of  Pedagogy, 
Birmingham,  England,  was  sent  to  this  country 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  97 

last  year  as  a  representative  of  the  English 
government,  to  inspect  certain  phases  of  school 
work  in  our  country.  He  examined  with  great 
care  the  organization  and  methods  at  Bataiva 
and  gave  them  his  emphatic  endorsement  and 
said:  "These  methods  will  revolutionize  the 
schools  of  England." 

This  method  is  now  being  introduced  into  the 
schools  in  the  vicinity  of  Batavia,  and  other 
localities  are  arranging  to  introduce  the  same 
method. 

Your  committee,  therefore,  unaimously  re- 
commend the  immediate  introduction  of  indi- 
vidual instruction  as  the  supplement  and  cor- 
rective of  class  instruction  into  such  school  rooms 
as  can  be  under  immediate  personal  supervision 
of  the  Superintendent  with  a  view  to  its  further 
introduction  in  the  near  future  into  all  the  public 
schools  of  the  city. 


Chapter  XV 

A  Philadelphia   View"^ 

This  is  the  story  of  what  came  from  a  crowded 
schoolroom  in  the  pleasant  town  of  Batavia,  in 
western  New  York.  Back  of  it  is  the  rare  com- 
mon sense  of  one  thoughtful  mind  incorporate 
in  a  man  by  the  name  of  John  Kennedy.  In 
front  of  it  lies  a  well-nigh  limitless  sweep  of 
possibilities,  which,  by  a  simple  change  in  the 
present  system  of  public  education,  may  be 
productive  of  benefits  beyond  value  to  mankind. 

I  call  it  the  story  of  a  crowded  schoolroom 
because  it  was  such  that  gave  John  Kennedy 
his  opportunity  to  make  a  practical  test  of  a 
theory  he  had  evolved  after  many  years  of  ex- 
perience as  a  teacher  in  public  schools. 

He  saw  that  education  was  not  educating. 


*  Leigh  Hedges  in  the  Philadelphia  North  American.  The 
article  begins  with  a  quotation  from  Prof.  O'Shea  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Wisconsin. 

(98) 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  99 

but  he  didn't  sit  by  and  sigh  because  of  this. 
He  went  to  work  with  that  one  tool  a  man  has 
which  will  carve  destiny — his  brain.  And  after 
he'd  thought  it  all  out,  the  chance  came  just  as 
it  always  does. 

Opportunity  is  ever  waiting  around  the  corner 
for  the  man  who  uses  his  gray  matter. 

In  1898  John  Kennedy  was  superintendent 
of  schools  in  Batavia.  He  is  yet,  despite  offers 
of  positions  at  increased  salary.  In  November 
of  that  year — mark  the  date,  for  the  time  may 
come  when  the  other  events  of  that  cycle,  his- 
toric as  they  were,  will  sink  into  comparative 
insignificance  beside  this — a  certain  room  in 
the  public  schools  was  overflowing  with  boys 
and  girls.  It  was  not  actually  crowded;  indeed, 
it  would  have  held  more  than  were  in  it,  but 
there  were  too  many  pupils  for  the  one  teacher. 

As  the  room  space  was  large  enough  to  ac- 
commodate more  children,  the  superintendent 
resolved  to  suggest  to  the  Board  of  Education 
a  bold  experiment  in  education.     He  advised 


100  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

the  board  not  to  remove  the  excess  of  children, 
but  to  bring  in  a  second  teacher  to  bring  for- 
ward the  laggards  by  means  of  individual  in- 
struction. 

He  argued  that  this  would  lift  the  strain  en- 
tirely from  the  class  teacher  and  give  her  all 
the  relief  she  needed;  that  it  would  free  the 
class  work  from  all  clogging  and  enable  it  to 
move  freely,  smoothly  and  steadily  forward; 
that  it  would  bring  many  unhappy  children  out 
of  pitiful  and  dangerous  distress;  that  it  would 
remove  worry  from  both  children  and  teacher, 
conducing  to  the  health,  happiness,  confidence 
and  ambition  of  all;  that  it  would  substitute 
complete  success  for  failure,  and  that  it  would 
reduce  the  expense  of  carrying  on  schools. 

He  told  me  the  other  day  the  members  of  that 
board  at  first  looked  at  him  as  if  doubtful  for 
the  moment  of  his  sanity. 

Two  teachers  in  one  room!  Who  ever  heard 
of  such  a  thing!  And  how  in  the  world  could 
such  a  simple  innovation  be  productive  of  re- 
sults so  radical  and  far-reaching! 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  101 

But  they  believed  in  the  man  standing  before 
them,  and  they  adopted  his  recommendation. 
Somehow  the  importance  of  the  step  they  were 
authorizing  seemed  to  be  apparent  to  them, 
and  after  they  had  formally  launched  the  new 
idea,  and  recovered  from  the  effects  of  the  shock 
the  president  said,  "Gentlemen,  this  is  not  only 
a  revelation,  but  a  revolution/' 

The  names  of  the  historic  board  who  appoint- 
ed the  first  individual  teacher  in  the  history  of 
education  are  D.  W.  Tomlinson,  J.  J.  Wash- 
burn, John  Holley  Bradish,  John  M.  McKenzie, 
Robert  B.  Pease  and  Hobart  B.  Cone.  I  think 
that  not  only  the  history  of  education  but  also 
the  history  of  humanity,  civil  order  and  civil 
liberty  will  yet  make  appropriate  record  and 
grateful  mention  of  the  service  of  John  Kennedy 
and  these  men. 

The  woman  they  appointed  was  Miss  Lucie 
Hamilton.  She  had  been  completely  worn  out 
by  a  life  of  teaching  in  public  schools.  When 
Professor  Kennedy  approached   her  with  the 


102  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

proposition,  she  looked  at  him  in  amazement. 

''What  do  you  mean?"  she  gasped.  "Why, 
I'm  a  nervous  and  physical  wreck  from  teach- 
ing!'^ 

"I  mean  that  I  want  you  to  begin  this  work 
next  Monday  as  a  personal  favor  to  me,"  he 
answered,  "and  to  continue  it  after  a  month's 
trial  as  a  personal  favor  to  yourself!" 

So  this  Batavia  system — it  is  now  known  as 
that  the  world  over — was  to  be  of  benefit  to 
teachers  as  well  as  children. 

Miss  Hamilton's  instructions  were,  find  the 
most  backward  children  and  make  them  the 
most  forward.  She  has  been  doing  this  for 
nearly  eight  years  now;  she  doesn't  know  she 
has  such  a  thing  as  a  nerve,  and  the  system  of 
which  she  was  the  first  expositor  has  transformed 
the  schools  in  Batavia  and  become  the  foremost 
in  the  broad  realm  of  education. 

She  has  proved  beyond  all  question  that 
whole  grades  can  be  lined  up  and  moved  for- 
ward without  perceptible  dragging  and  without 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  103 

any  losses  at  all.  She  has  proved  that  education 
can  educate.  She  has  proved  that  physical, 
intellectual  and  moral  tragedy  may  be  entirely 
eliminated  from  education,  and  that  no  one  need 
look  upon  a  schoolhouse  with  a  shudder. 

When  she  entered  upon  her  work  the  room 
contained  fifty-four  pupils.  It  has  since -con- 
tained as  high  as  eighty-five,  very  much  to  the 
gratification  of  all  concerned.  And  so  well  has 
she  performed  her  assigned  function  that  after 
she  has  found  the  most  backward  children  it 
becomes  impossible  for  other  people  to  find 
them. 

Just  what  is  this  system  which  has  so  interest- 
ed the  world  as  to  bring  to  Batavia  every  week 
representatives  of  schools  from  various  parts 
of  the  country  and  other  countries  as  remote 
as  the  Argentine  Republic  and  Japan? 

Briefly  it  is  as  follows:  In  schoolrooms  with 
an  enrolment  of  from  fifty  to  eighty  children 
two  teachers  are  employed.  One  of  these  is 
the  class  teacher,  who  gives  instruction  to  the 


104  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

classes,  conducts  the  recitations,  and  is  respon- 
sible for  the  maintenance  of  discipline,  the 
keeping  of  records  and  the  general  machinery 
of  the  school. 

The  other  teacher  in  a  way  is  co-ordinate 
with  the  class  teacher,  but  she  uses  all  her  time 
in  working  at  a  desk  with  individual  pupils  who 
are  found  by  the  class  teacher  to  be  backward 
or  who,  for  any  reason,  are  failing  to  keep  up 
their  standing  in  the  class. 

By  this  method  the  two  teachers  work  as  one ; 
they  recognize  that  the  work  of  the  school  is  a 
dual  process,  in  which  both  teachers  play  an 
important  part.  The  one  supplements  the 
work  of  the  other;  the  work  of  recitation  does 
not  drag,  while  the  child  who  is  weak  or  needs 
assistance  knows  where  and  how  to  get  it  under 
the  best  and  most  helpful  conditions. 

In  schoolrooms  with  the  usual  number  of 
pupils,  from  thirty  to  forty-five,  the  teacher 
divides  her  time,  taking  half  for  class  and  half 
for   individual   instruction.     In   this   way   the 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  105 

plan  works  as  well  as  with  two  teachers,  and  the 
efficiency  of  the  school  is  materially  increased 
instead  of  being  lessened. 

The  Bat  a  via  system  assumes  that  a  normal 
child  is  able  to  do  the  work  of  the  school,  pro- 
viding the  school  is  carried  on  normally  and 
under  equitable  conditions.  It  is  based  on  two 
Don'ts:  1,  don't  tell  the  child  anything,  but  see 
that  he  discovers  it  for  himself;  2,  don't  do  any- 
thing for  him,  but  see  that  he  does  it  for  himself. 

It  does  away  with  putting  the  "square  boy 
into  the  round  hole  and  the  round  boy  into  the 
square  hole."  It  maintains  the  grades  of  the 
school  without  inflexibility  and  gives  all  the 
advantages  of  the  graded  system  without  its 
grind  and  usual  want  of  adjustability. 

The  anaemic  and  neurasthenic  child  has  a 
chance  to  go  to  school  and  get  the  education 
to  which  he  is  entitled  without  the  draft  on  his 
body  which  prevents  natural  growth  and  with- 
out the  nervous  dread  of  failure  to  make  promo- 
tion which  bears  so  heavily  on  some  children. 


106  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

The  plan  enables  the  school  to  do  its  best 
work  in  school  hours.  The  home  is  relieved 
of  the  burden  entailed  by  having  to  give  the 
child  additional  instruction  there.  Under  the 
Batavia  plan  the  school  prepares  to  meet  the 
failures  of  the  child  in  a  rational  and  intelligent 
way:  with  the  result  that  when  the  school  day 
is  over  the  child  goes  home  to  spend  his  time 
in  recreation  or  other  employment,  confident 
that  he  can  meet  the  demands  of  his  school 
successfully  on  the  morrow. 

This  plan  brings  the  school  in  touch  with 
the  child  in  a  way  not  often  realized  through 
the  ordinary  method.  The  teacher  discovers 
facts  of  temperament,  environment  and  circum- 
stances affecting  progress  rarely  if  ever  ascer- 
tained in  the  usual  run  of  school  life.  The 
method  invites  confidence.  The  child  comes 
to  know  the  ground  upon  which  he  stands,  and 
will  respond  to  the  efforts  of  the  teacher  to  help 
him  in  a  way  usually  wholly  unexpected. 

''Since  we  introduced  the  Batavia  system," 


INDIVIDUAL   TEACHING  107 

said  Professor  Kennedy  to  me,  "we  are  seeing 
our  slow  ones  springing  to  the  front  and  leading 
the  companies.  We  are  almost  inclined  to 
think  that  slowness  of  mind  is  an  evidence 
prima  facie  of  latent  superiority.  At  any  rate, 
we  take  the  children  just  as  they  come  to  us 
from  the  hands  of  their  Maker,  and  we  make 
no  invidious  comparisons  or  distinctions.  We 
say  to  all  the  children:  'Come  let  us  climb.* 
And  they  climb ;  every  one  of  them.  We  never 
break  a  grade. 

"They  have  done  such  fine  climbing  since 
we  introduced  the  system  that  they  have  flooded 
our  high  schools  and  all  our  upper  grades.  We 
are  growing  where  we  should  grow — at  the  top. 
The  increase  in  our  first  primary  grade  this  year 
is  less  than  2  per  cent.  The  increase  in  all  our 
grades,  including  the  first  primary,  exceeds  10 
per  cent.  That  is  due  to  climbing  and  I  can 
scarcely  take  you  into  any  class  that  is  not 
black  with  boys." 

The    schoolrooms   in   which    there    are   two 


108  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

teachers  are  just  like  those  we  have  all  been 
used  to  except  that  they  have  two  teachers' 
desks  instead  of  one.  The  whole  system  is 
founded  on  such  a  simple  idea  that  one  going 
through  the  Batavia  schools  and  seeing  what 
wonders  have  been  wrought  cannot  keep  back 
the  question,  "Why  didn't  some  one  think  of  it 
before?" 

In  one  room  I  visited,  while  the  regular  class 
teacher  went  on  with  her  work,  a  boy  of  1 1,  with 
a  strong  suspicion  of  trouble  on  his  face,  walked 
to  the  desk  of  the  individual  teacher  to  be  helped 
out  of  a  difficulty.  Under  the  ordinary  system 
this  lad  would  have  been  compelled  to  wait 
for  assistance  until  the  pending  recitation  was 
finished  or  possibly  until  the  end  of  the  day's 
session,  when  a  tired  teacher  would  have  done 
her  best  to  aid  him. 

Now,  however,  there  awaited  him  a  sweet- 
faced  woman  who  was  there  for  the  very  purpose 
of  giving  him  the  lift  he  needed.  And  how  did 
she  do  this?     By  speaking  a  few  words  of  wis- 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  109 

dom?  No.  She  asked  him  a  question  which 
brought  a  frown  to  his  face.  He  couldn't 
answer  it,  so  she  asked  him  another,  but  with 
the  same  result.  Then  came  a  third  and  a 
fourth,  but  no  more.  The  fourth  had  touched 
the  magic  spot  and  the  boy's  answer,  accompan- 
ied by  a  smile  that  told  the  whole  story,  showed 
that  it  was  all  smooth  sailing,  at  least  for  the 
present. 

The  class  had  not  been  interrupted  in  the 
least ;  the  boy  was  unfettered  and  ready  to  keep 
step  with  his  companions,  and  the  second  teach- 
er was  ready  for  the  next  seeker. 

And  it  is  not  only  in  the  schoolroom  or/ in 
school  work  that  this  system  is  showing  re- 
markable results.  You  see  it  on  the  streets 
of  Batavia.  When  I  first  visited  the  place,  and 
before  I  had  ever  heard  of  such  a  thing  as  its 
system  of  education,  I  was  impressed  with  the 
general  good  behavior  of  the  boys  on  the  streets. 
There  was  such  a  lack  of  rowdyishness  that  I 
remarked  upon  the  fact  to  a  resident. 


no  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

''That's  due  to  the  Batavia  system,"  he  said. 

I  had  gone  up  there  to  report  a  heresy  trial, 
but  I  remained  to  look  into  this  notable  innova- 
tion which  has  aptly  been  called  by  some  one 
"Educational   Christianity' ' . 

Titusville  and  Hazelton  have  adopted  it 
officially.  In  many  places  in  Ohio,  Wisconsin,, 
Illinois  and  other  Western  and  Northern  states, 
and  in  Canada  it  has  proved  as  much  of  a  suc- 
cess as  in  the  town  of  its  birth,  and  at  present 
New  York  city  is  investigating  it  with  a  view  to 
its  adoption. 

And  in  the  meantime  John  Kennedy  is  flooded 
with  invitations  to  go  here,  there  and  the  other 
place  to  introduce  this  plan  of  untold  possi- 
bilities which  has  for  its  parents  his  brain  and 
a  crowded  schoolroom,  and  may  yet  prove  to 
be  the  panacea  for  many  of  our  modem  ills. 


I 


Chapter  XVI 

Views  of  a  Michigan  Superintendent* 

To  the  honorable  Board  of  Education: 
Gentlemen — Something  over  a  year  ago,  in 
connection  with  the  matter  of  some  overcrowded 
rooms,  I  brought  to  your  notice  the  possibility 
of  taking  care  of  the  rooms  according  to  the 
so-called  ''Batavia  Plan"  of  individual  instruc- 
tion. At  that  time  it  was  decided  to  be  expe- 
dient to  relieve  the  difficulty  in  another  way. 
Since  then  several  members  of  the  board  have 
expressed  themselves  as  much  interested  in  the 
plan.  Therefore  I  took  the  opportunity,  while 
visiting  Batavia  as  a  member  of  your  special 
committee  to  examine  a  number  of  modern 
school  buildings,  to  look  very  carefully  into  the 
workings  of  the  Batavia  plan. 


Report  of  Supt.  E.  D.  Palmer  to  the  West  Bay  City  Board 
of  Education 

(111) 


112  THE  BAT  AVI  A  SYSTEM 

The  public  school  grew  out  of  the  principle 
that  the  citizens  of  a  republic  must  be  educated 
to  be  safe  administrators  of  its  affairs,  while 
the  graded  form  the  schools  have  taken  came 
from  the  necessity  of  furnishing  progressive 
stages  of  educational  work  for  the  children  of 
the  schools,  that  many  might  be  engaged  on 
the  same  work  at  the  same  time  under  the  direc- 
tions of  the  same  teacher — a  question  chiefly 
of  economy,  of  effort  and  of  money. 

It  was  always  known  that  children  were  riot 
all  alike  in  aptitude  nor  in  capacity;  but  the 
most  of  them  were  enough  alike  in  many  ways 
to  make  gradation  and  a  certain  degree  of  uni- 
form progress  possible.  But  because  its  ad- 
ministrators while  they  recognized  and  deplored 
saw  no  way  to  obviate  it,  the  difference  in  indi- 
vidual children — the  genius  and  the  slow  child 
alike — was  ignored  in  the  system.  While  every 
teacher — every  teacher  with  a  heart — for  a 
time  struggles  to  save  the  child  that  is  different, 
that  has  any  originality  of  character,  at  length 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  113 

she  succumbs  to  the  current  and  is  overborne, 
and  with  a  heart  full  of  anguish  sees  the  children 
for  whom  she  spends  and  is  spent,  drift  out  of 
teach,  out  of  school,  and  out  to  sea. 

Nor  have  prominent  educators  been  less  con- 
cerned, but  they  found  the  condition  existing 
when  they  began  their  work,  they  have  sought 
diligently  for  a  remedy,  and  in  despair  the  most 
of  them  have  settled  down  to  the  conviction 
that  there  is  no  cure,  and  content  themselves 
with  trying  to  render  the  suffering  as  tolerable 
as  possible;  while  a  few  go  further  and  affirm 
that  some  persons  are  foreordained  to  a  mental 
damnation,  as  it  has  been  believed  some  were 
to  a  moral.  The  consistent  sequence  of  which 
is  that  the  earlier  the  teacher  discovers  those 
predestined  to  mental  death  and  precipitates 
the  end,  the  better  for  the  elect  and  the  school 
at  large. 

Meantime  some  noble  souls  have  clung  to  the 
idea  that  there  are  no  dull  pupils,  if  teachers 
were  but  wise  enough  to  know  how  to  reach 


114  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

them.  Teachers  have  tried  various  expedients; 
detaining  pupils  after  school  to  help  them 
(which  could  hardly  be  separated  in  the  child's 
mind  from  a  benevolent  sort  of  punishment), 
sparing  a  few  minutes  during  the  day  to  help 
some  struggling  one,  setting  aside  a  period  in 
the  programme  for  individual  help,  taking 
occasionally  a  class  period  for  assisting  children 
at  their  desks,  assigning  an  advanced  pupil  to 
show  younger  ones,  and  so  on. 

A  few  attempts  at  the  solution  of  the  problem 
of  the  backward  pupil  are  more  noteworthy 
than  the  rest.  The  German  "blocking  system" 
of  alternating  class  and  study-periods  is  an  old 
one.  The  "pupil-teacher  system"  of  England 
has  attracted  much  attention,  a  kind  of  cadet 
system,  in  which  pupils  of  the  upper  class  regu- 
larly assist  in  the  school  work,  receiving  a  small 
compensation.  A  plan  tried  at  Hartford,  Conn. , 
was  to  select  the  most  backward  of  each  room 
for  a  class  and  assign  them  to  a  separate  teacher 
who  would  try  to  bring  up  the  awkward  squad 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  115 

so  it  coiild  inarch  with  the  rest  of  the  company. 
At  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  the  plan  went 
farther  and  all  backward  pupils  of  a  building 
were  assembled  in  one  room  in  charge  of  a  teach- 
er who  did  what  she  could  for  them,  thus  al- 
lowing the  brighter  pupils  to  go  unhampered. 
This  might  be  called  the  **hospital-for-crippled 
minds  plan".  There  must  be  a  good  deal  of 
inspiration  and  soul-uplift  for  the  children  set 
aside  in  a  room  under  those  conditions! 

Then  there  is  the  Batavia  plan.  It  is  so 
radically  different  from  the  others,  and  the 
literature  on  the  subject  is  so  misleading,  that 
a  rather  careful  examination  of  its  history  and 
method  is  necessary,  which  is  fully  justified  by 
the  results  it  can  show.  The  Batavia  system 
is  (like  the  graded  school  system  as  a  whole) 
also  an  evolution.  A  little  over  five  years  ago 
a  second  and  third  grade  room  became  over- 
crowded. It  had  been  overcrowded  before  and 
had  always  been  relieved  in  the  usual  ways, 
by  forcing  a  few  children  into  the  next  grade,  or 


116  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

organizing  a  new  room.  The  superintendent 
proposed  to  place  a  second  teacher  in  the  room, 
one  teacher  to  take  the  classes  and  the  other  to 
help  individuals.  Thus  the  Batavia  experiment 
began. 

The  plan  worked.  When  another  room  be- 
came overcrowded  the  same  arrangement  was 
made,  until  now  the  plan  pervades  the  whole 
system  of  schools — that  is  to  say,  in  six  of  about 
24  grade  rooms  two  teachers  carry. on  the  alter- 
nation of  class  and  individual  instruction,  while 
in  the  other  18  rooms  there  is  a  single  teacher 
doing  the  same  thing.  Perhaps  I  should  say, 
to  prevent  a  misconception,  that  two  teachers 
to  a  room  is  not  an  essential  part  of  the  Batavia 
plan.  It  can  be  operated  just  as  well  with  one 
teacher,  but  with  two  teachers  there  is  an  econ- 
omy of  expenditure  for  equipment,  heating, 
etc.,  as  it  dispenses  with  an  extra  room.  The 
two-teacher  arrangement  is  the  most  conspic- 
uous thing  to  a  superficial  observer,  and  the 
word  has  gone  out  that  the  Batavia  plan  con- 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  117 

sists  in  putting  two  teachers  in  a  room.  I  dare 
say  that  this  very  thing  has  put  back  its  general 
adoption  for  five  years.  On  the  face  of  it  two 
teachers  to  a  room  in  most  cities  on  a  general 
scale  is  out  of  the  question,  and  superintendents, 
understanding  this  to  be  essential,  will  not  give 
the  cause  a  hearing.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  when 
I  went  to  examine  the  system  I  thought  the 
general  theory  of  individual  instruction  an 
ideal  one,  but  was  skeptical  as  to  its  applica- 
bility to  a  system  like  ours.  I  went  to  investi- 
gate upon  the  simple  faith  that  ''what  man  hath 
done,  man  can  do.*^  The  first  room  I  visited 
had  but  one  teacher;  I  asked  to  see  her  pro- 
gramme; I  watched  her  work;  then  the  whole 
matter  was  clear,  I  saw  one  teacher  at  work 
with  one  grade,  two  teachers  with  one  grade, 
two  teachers  with  two  grades,  and*  one  teacher 
with  two  grades,  and  I  am  convinced  that  a 
room  that  one  teacher  can  handle  with  our 
present  system  can  be  handled  with  the  Batavia 
system,  with  better  results  and  with  less  demand 
both  on  the  children  and  on  the  teacher. 


118  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

The  central  idea  is  a  stated  period  for  indi- 
vidual instruction  to  alternate  with  class  work. 
The  class  work  is  necessary  as  a  tonic ;  the  child 
needs  it  that  he  may  measure  himself  by  others ; 
he  needs  it  for  the  audience  it  gives  when  he 
recites;  and  the  teacher  needs  it  as  a  means  of 
determining  results.  The  individual  instructor 
is  necessary  for  the  child  that  can  not  yet  ex- 
press himself  intelligibly  in  class;  for  the  child 
that  has  not  learned  how  to  study,  or  whose 
power  of  concentration  has  not  been  trained; 
for  the  child  that  is  discouraged  or  diffident; 
for  the  child  that  is  slow  to  catch  a  point  and 
has  not  a  ready  answer  in  class.  Some  children 
come  to  the  individual  instructor  for  a  single 
lesson;  some  come  regularly  for  several  days; 
some  seldom  or  never  come.  Her  time  is  for 
those  who  need  it  most. 

The  relation  between  the  two  teachers  in  a 
room  is  interesting  and  vital.  Neither  is  an  as- 
sistant. They  are  co-ordinate  in  their  work; 
but  the  responsibility  of  discipline  and  adminis- 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  119 

tration  is  lodged  with  one  of  them — sometimes 
with  the  class  teacher,  sometimes  with  the  in- 
dividual teacher. 

When  one  teacher  has  one  grade,  her  pro- 
gramme is  arranged  with  alternate  periods  of 
classes  and  individual  work.  When  two  teach- 
ers have  one  grade  it  is  divided  into  two  sections 
doing  the  same  work,  and  is  operated  in  all 
respects  like  two  grades;  one  teacher  does  all  the 
class  work  and  the  other  all  the  individual  work. 
The  programme  of  the  class  teacher  looks 
exactly  like  our  programmes,  with  two  sections 
in  a  room.  The  individual  teacher  simply, 
does  the  work  of  the  subject  that  recites  next. 
With  one  teacher  and  two  grades  the  classes 
recite  alternate  days. 

As  to  results,  let  me  summarize  them:  (1) 
There  are  no  pupils  that  fail  to  pass.  (2) 
Children  of  the  grades  do  not  have  to  take  home 
books  to  study.  (3)  The  teachers  are  happy 
and  so  are  the  children.  (4)  Absence  from 
school    has    been    greatly    reduced.     (5)    The 


120  THE  B ATA VI A  SYSTEM 

grammar  grades  are  as  full  as  the  lower  grades 
except  for  the  difference  in  mortality.  (6) 
Discipline  nearly  takes  care  of  itself.  (7)  There 
is  no  scolding  or  sharp  word  for  failure  in  class. 
(8)  The  work  on  all  subjects  in  all  grades  is 
remarkably  uniform,  showing  that  there  are  no 
longer  any  backward  pupils.  (9)  The  high 
school  has  doubled  in  three  years. 

There  are  a  number  of  questions  that  are  in- 
variably asked  me  by  those  with  whom  I  have 
talked  of  this  matter.  Some  of  these  I  have 
answered  above.     Others  are  these: 

The  business  man  asks:  **How  about  the 
expense?"  In  Batavia  they  are  saving  $2,000 
a  year  by  the  plan.  With  one  teacher  in  a 
room  there  would  of  course  be  no  difference. 
With  two  teachers  and  75  or  80  pupils  in  a  room 
heating,  janitor,  etc. 

The  teacher  asks:  "Does  it  not  mean  more 
work?"  No,  less.  First,  worry  is  gone,  and 
worry  kills  more  than  work.  If  a  pupil  does 
not  understand  the  work  in  hand,  or  is  absent. 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  121 

the  teacher  does  not  worry,  and  the  class  time 
is  riot  taken  up  with  explanations  that  the  others 
are  not  interested  in.  Then,  since  there  is  no 
time  .wasted  in  needless  explanations,  in  the 
class,  the  teacher  does  not  feel  driven  for  time 
and  can  get  more  done  with  less  friction.  The 
same  thing  applies  when  the  same  teacher  is 
alternately  class  teacher  and  individual  in- 
structor, while  at  the  same  time  the  alternating 
work  rests  her. 

Another  asks:  ''Are  specially  constructed 
buildings  needed?"  No,  but  if  two  teachers 
are  to  be  employed  the  rooms  should  be  a  little 
larger.  A  new  eight-room  ward  school  nearly 
ready  for  service  at  Batavia,  and  the  only  one 
constructed  with  this  system  in  view,  has  rooms 
26x35  feet,  the  same  length  and  only  a  foot 
wider  than  in  our  Kolb  school.  These  will  be 
opened  with  one  teacher  in  a  room.  If  condi- 
tions require  it,  they  are  large  enough  for  two 
teachers. 

"Is  not  the  bright  pupil  overlooked  in  this 


122  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

plan?"  No.  He  needs  no  individual  help  ex- 
cept at  rare  intervals,  but  the  removal  from 
his  neck  of  the  killing  weight  of  the  slow  pupil 
allows  him  to  go  his  gait.  The  old  system  kills 
the  spirit  of  the  ambitious,  quick  boy,  who 
must  barely  creep  to  allow  his  slower  brother 
to  keep  up,  and  so  he  dawdles  along  and  becomes 
ruined  as  a  student,  for  he  has  no  incentive. 

''Does  not  individual  instruction  make  the 
backward  pupil  dependent?"  No.  The  in- 
structor has  it  in  her  hands  to  control  that.  The 
help  she  gives,  or  should  give,  is  the  help  of 
teaching  how  to  study. 

''Can  the  plan  be  used  in  the  high  school?" 
Yes.  It  has  been  in  the  Batavia  high  school 
for  two  years. 

"Can  it  be  applied  in  West  Bay  City?"  Yes. 
as  well  as  anywhere,  but  it  should  be  introduced 
gradually,  as  teachers  catch  its  spirit  and  under- 
stand its  methods.  Our  semi-annual  promo- 
tions would  need  to  be  abandoned,  which  could 
not  be  done  suddenly. 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  '      123 

''Are  other  cities  adopting  the  plan?"  Yes. 
Racine,  Wisconsin,  has  just  adopted  it  in  full. 
Titusville,  and  Hazelton,  Pa.,  Ashtabula,  Ohio, 
Peterborough  and  Montreal,  in  Canada,  Ogdens- 
burg,  N.  Y.,  and  other  places  are  working  under 
this  plan.  New  York  City  and  Buffalo  are 
are  taking  the  matter  up,  while  educators 
everywhere  are  talking  about  it  or  going 
to  investigate.  I  have  here  letters,  reports, 
newspaper  and  magazine  articles,  all  to  the 
same  effect,  which  I  must  not  take  the  time  to 
read  to  you,  but  which  are  at  your  service. 

In  conclusion,  gentlemen,  I  have  the  honor — 
and  I  esteem  it  highly — to  recommend  that  the 
"Batavia  plan"  of  individual  instruction  be 
adopted  for  the  West  Bay  City  schools,  to  be 
introduced  gradually,  as  the  way  opens.  Should 
this  board  approve  the  system,  West  Bay  City 
will  be  the  first  city  in  Michigan  to  inaugurate 
it,  and  its  operation  here  is  sure  to  be  watched 
with  much  interest. 


Chapter  XVII. 

Testimony  of  a  Batavia  Principal"^ 

Many  people  have  asked  me  to  give  testi- 
mony regarding  the  benefits  of  individual  in- 
struction in  public  school  teaching  on  the  plans 
promulgated  by  Mr.  Kennedy  and  as  introduced 
by  him  into  the  Batavia  schools. 

I  have  invariably  stated  that  it  is  the  only 
scientific  and  practical  method  of  conducting 
the  schools  and  it  is  due  to  this  system  that  the 
Batavia  schools  take  the  rank  to  which  by 
practical  educators  they  are  assigned.  From 
my  experience  it  is  the  only  method  which 
reduces  the  friction  in  school  rooms,  lessens 
the  labor  of  the  teachers,  and  promotes  a  higher 
average  of  scholarship  in  the  grades. 

It  has  been  my  pleasure  as  well  as  my  good 
fortune  to  have  served  under  Mr.  Kennedy  at 

*From  Martha  Ferry,  Principal  of  Washington  Avenue 
School,  Batavia 

(124) 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  125 

the  very  inception  of  this  system  and  to  have 
seen  its  growth  until  it  has  now  become  estab- 
lished and  successful.  I  have  taught  in  rooms 
with  one  teacher  and  with  two  teachers  and 
have  had  good  results  under  both  conditions. 

I  was  much  pleased  to  be  one  of  two  teachers 
who  went  to  Charlottesville,  Virginia,  to  demon- 
strate the  system  in  the  summer  school  at  the 
University  there;  and  fropi  letters  received  after 
my  return  I  believe  it  was  accepted  with  favor. 

As  principal  of  one  of  the  largest  grade  schools 
here  I  can  bear  testimony  to  the  system's  worth 
and  value  both  to  the  pupils  and  to  the  teachers. 


Chapter  XVIII 

An   Indiana  View* 

Sup't  J.  K.  Beck  of  the  city  schools,  who  is 
always  on  the  lookout  for  the  best  interests  of 
the  Bloomington  schools,  has  made  his  report 
to  the  school  trustees  on  the  instruction  system 
used  in  the  Batavia  (New  York)  schools.  The 
school  board  after  hearing  the  report  has  decided 
to  adopt  the  system  here,  which  is  best  explained 
in  Mr.  Beck's  report  which  the  World  publishes 
in  full.     *     *     * 

''Resolution  of  the  Board:  'It  is  hereby  re- 
solved that  this  Board  accepts  the  superinten- 
dent's report;  heartily  and  unanimously  en- 
dorses the  Batavia  plan;  and  orders  its  intro- 
duction into  the  eight  elementary  grades  of  the 
public  schools  as  rapidly  as  possible.' 
William  A.  Rawles 

Secretary  Board  of  Education 
Bloomington,  Indiana. 

*From  the  Bloomington,  Ind.,  Evening  World 
(126) 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  127 

The  adoption  of  the  Batavia  system  called 
out  from  Walter  Bradfute  of  the  Bloomington 
Telephone  the  following  comments. 

"It  is  not  often  a  more  interesting  or  impor- 
tant article  appears  in  the  Telephone  than  that 
of  yesterday  on  the  Batavia  system  to  be  intro- 
duced into  the  Bloomington  schools,  signed  by 
Professor  Rawles,  secretary  of  our  school  board. 
If  half  promised  is  accomplished,  it  will  be  a 
lasting  blessing — in  these  later  days  when  going 
to  school  seems  often  a  method  of  punishment 
more  than  to  benefit  the  child.  The  absurd 
'high  standing'  theory  has  driven  about  half 
of  our  children  out  of  the  schools  at  the  age 
when  they  should  be  there  doing  the  most  good. 
It  should  be  made  a  crime,  punished  by  the  law, 
for  any  child  in  the  lower  grades  to  be  compelled 
to  study  out  of  school  hours.  When  only  a 
small  per  cent,  of  all  the  children  even  get  into 
the  high  school  it's  time  somebody  had  the 
practical  sense  to  ask  the  question — why? 
When  less  than  10  in  100  boys  and  girls  go  higher 


128  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

than  the  grades — is  it  the  fault  of  the  child  or 
the  system? 

**What  per  cent,  of  our  own  boys  are  high 
school  graduates?  Then  why?  Little  children 
carrying  home  their  books  to  study  at  night — 
afraid  of  'red  marks' — it's  too  absurd  to  think 
about. 

**The  new  system  that  our  school  board  pro- 
poses to  introduce  has  every  mark  of  common 
sense,  and  it  looks  like  it  was  formulated  by 
somebody  who  thought  more  of  the  child  and 
its  welfare  than  'higher  education'  and  the  fads 
that  land  99  out  of  100  outside  the  college  walls. 

**So  we  say  that  in  introducing  this  new  school 
system  of  only  common  sense,  Prof.  Beck  and 
our  school  board  will  have  the  thanks  and  ap- 
preciation of  parents  generally  in  this  commu- 
nity." 


Chapter  XIX 

A    Wisconsin  Adoption 

The  schools  of  Racine,  Wis.,  have  themselves 
become  a  model  to  be  studied  by  educators  on 
account  of  the  adoption  of  the  "Batavia  Sys- 
tem," as  will  be  seen  by  the  following  excerpt 
from  a  recent  issue  of  the  Racine  News: 

'Tor  years  the  schools  of  Racine  have  been 
a  source  of  pride  to  the  residents  of  the  beautiful 
Belle  City  of  the  lakes,  but  of  later  years  this 
pride  has  become  more  marked,  and  justly  so. 
Whenever  anything  new  is  brought  up  in  educa- 
tional circles  it  catches  the  eye  of  the  local 
public  school  officials  and  if  they  find  it  to  be 
possessed  of  merit  it  is  adopted  without  delay. 
One  example  of  this  is  the  individual  system  of 
instruction  adopted  here  some  time  ago,  and  it 
has  proven  most  gratifyingly  successful.  This 
system  was  in  vogue  in  Batavia,  N.  Y.,  and  the 

(129) 


130  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

school  commissioners  desiring  to  have  a  thorough 
investigation  made  into  its  merits  appointed  a 
committee  of  competent  educators  to  make  a 
trip  of  inspection  through  the  schools  of  the 
eastern  city.  Their  report  was  a  favorable 
one  and  the  consequence  was  that  the  system 
was  introduced  here.  Since  that  time  educators 
from  other  cities  have  been  here  to  inspect  this 
method  of  instruction  and  men  prominently 
identified  with  the  school  work  in  Racine  have 
made  speeches  on  the  subject  in  other  cities." 


Chapter  XX 

A  Revelation  and  a  Revolution* 

".This  is  not  only  a  revelation  but  a  revolu- 
tion." 

These  were  the  words  of  President  Daniel 
W.  Tomlinson  of  the  Batavia  Board  of  Educa- 
tion, spoken  one  November  evening  in  1898 
when  Professor  John  Kennedy  closed  the  first  ex- 
position that  he  ever  made  of  the  principles  of 
Individual  Instruction.  Those  present  were, 
besides  President  Tomlinson,  J.  J.  Washburn, 
Robert  B.  Pease,  John  Holley  Bradish,  John 
M.  McKenzie  and  Herbert  B.  Cone,  together 
with  P.  P.  Bradish  who  was  clerk  of  the  Board. 

It  was  a  strange  and  unprecedented  sugges- 
tion that  Professor  Kennedy  had  made.  In 
the  central  school  building  there  was  an  over- 
crowded room,  causing  work  too  great  for  the 


^Chester  E.  Piatt,  editor  Batavia  Evening  Times 
(131) 


132  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

teacher.  The  method*  of  the  past  had  been  in 
such  cases  to  divide  the  room  and  provide  an- 
other teacher.  The  conviction  came  to.  Pro- 
fessor Kennedy  that  another  room  was  not 
needed. 

For  many  years  he  had  been  studying  the 
problems  of  education.  He  had  known  the 
evils  of  class  instruction.  He  had  seen  teachers 
break  down  under  the  strain  of  trying  to  keep 
the  backward  children  spurred  up  so  that  they 
might  not  impede  the  progress  of  the  whole 
class.  He  had  seen  the  backward  children  made 
sullen  and  discouraged  by  class  instruction 
methods  not  adapted  to  their  needs.  He  out- 
lined to  the  Board  a  remedy  for  these  evils. 
He  suggested  a  second  teacher  for  the  room,  a 
teacher  whose  duty  should  be  to  bring  the  back- 
ward children  forward.  His  earnest  words 
carried  conviction.  The  Board  was  profoundly 
impressed,  and  saw  a  vision  of  the  future  which 
caused  President  Tomlinson  to  say  ''This  is 
not  only  a  revelation  but  a  revolution." 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  133 

Although  it  was  an  experiment  without 
precedent  the  Board  without  hesitation  unani- 
mously passed  a  resolution  providing  that  a 
teacher  should  be  engaged  for  Individual  In- 
struction, as  recommended  by  Professor  Ken- 
nedy, and  the  Batavia  System,  now  known 
around  the  world,  was  inaugurated. 

The  Professor  was  asked  to  recommend  a 
teacher  for  the  work.  He  recommended  Miss 
Lucie  Hamilton.  She  was  ill  at  the  time,  suf- 
fering from  a  nervous  breakdown,  the  result 
of  overwork  as  a  teacher  struggling  with  the 
difficulties  inseparable  from  the  old-time  system 
of  class  instruction.  A  member  if  the  Board 
reminded  Professor  Kennedy  of  this,  but  he 
declared  that  Miss  Hamilton  was  just  the  teach- 
er that  he  wished  for  the  position,  and  that  he 
believed  that  she  would,  be  available,  and  she 
was. 

But  it  was  not  without  some  hesitation  on 
her  part,  and  positive  assurances  of  success  on 
Professor  Kennedy's  part,  that  Miss  Hamilton 


134  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

became  the  first  individual  teacher  in  the  public 
schools  of  this  country,  a  position  in  which  she 
has  won  well  deserved  distinction. 

Foreseeing  possible  dangers  in  connection 
with  the  work  of  the  individual  teacher,  and 
foreseeing  possible  misapprehensions  that  might 
call  out  criticisms,  Professor  Kennedy  laid 
down  three  paradoxical  Dont's. 

"First,  Don't  tell  a  child  anything,  but  see 
that  he  knows  it. 

"Second,  Don't  do  anything  for  the  child, 
but  see  that  it  is  done. 

"Third,  Don't  do  anything  on  a  lesson  that 
has  not  been  recited." 

The  object  of  these  don'ts  was  to  guard 
against  the  danger  of  doing  work  for  pupils, 
instead  of  teaching  them  how  to  do  if  got  them- 
selves. It  was  not  intended  that  the  individual 
teacher  should  be  a  mere  coach  to  assist  scholars 
in  preparing  their  lessons.  The  aim  of  indi- 
vidual instruction  is  to  help  the  child  of  slow 


J 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  135 

mental  power  to  acquire  the  power  of  indepen- 
dent study. 

In  the  realm  of  business  Frederick  W.  Taylor 
has  started  a  revolution  by  his  exposition  of  the 
principles  of  scientific  management,  applied 
to  manufacturing  establishments.  All  can  ap- 
preciate the  waste  of  material  things  which  our 
national  policy  of  conservation  aims  to  correct. 
Not  so  many  appreciate  the  still  larger  waste 
of'  human  effort  going  on  in  connection  with 
all  our  manufacturing  establishments,  although 
the  daily  loss  is  greater  from  this  source  than 
from  the  waste  of  material  things. 

In  the  educational  world  John  Kennedy  of 
Batavia  started  a  revolution  twelve  years  ago, 
by  calling  attention  to  the  great  loss  which  we 
suffer  through  the  inefficiency  of  the  teaching 
in  our  public  schools.  To  correct  the  necessary 
evils  of  class  instruction  and  to  increase  the 
general  efficiency  of  school  work  the  Batavia 
system  of  Individual  Instruction  was  devised. 
At  the  outset  Professor  Kennedy  declared  that 


136  THE  B ATA VI A  SYSTEM 

Individual  Instruction  would  never  be  the 
prime  method  of  education,  nor  even  the  normal 
form  of  teaching.  He  said  that  children  must 
be  assembled  in  classes,  and  drilled,  trained  and 
educated  in  the  presence  of  their  fellows. 

Thus  only  can  they  get  the  needed  spur  of 
competition.  But  Professor  Kennedy  also 
pointed  out  that  the  best  results  cannot  be 
accomplished  by  class  instruction  alone.  Many 
pupils  do  not  grasp  principles  readily  from  a 
presentation  that  may  be  best  adapted  for  the 
entire  class.  In  every  class  there  are  those  who 
lag  behind  others,  and  classes  are  held  back 
from  making  proper  progress  on  account  of  the 
slow  pupils.'  But  less  than  one  per-cent  of  these 
slow  pupils  are  mental  defectives,  who  cannot 
master  the  subject  which  the  class  is  studying. 
A  considerable  proportion  have  some  physical 
defect  which  the  teacher  of  the  class  would 
perhaps  never  discover,  but  which  the  individual 
teacher  finds  out  at  once  and  can  often  take 
steps  to  remedy.     Very  often  children  are  found 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  137 

to  be  suffering  from  defective  sight  or  hearing, 
anaemia,  malnutrition,  or  the  presence  of  ade- 
noids or  other  abnormal  growths. 

But  the  most  important  thing  disclosed  by 
the  Batavia  system  is,  that  children  apparently 
defective  are  often  those  whose  minds  are  better 
than  the  average,  and  who  for  this  reason  re- 
quire a  different  and  peculiar  development, 
which  only  individual  instruction  can  give. 
Some  children  have  highly  developed  brains 
which  make  extraordinary  demand  upon  the 
blood  supply  and  upon  the  nervous  system 
which  makes  them  seem  incompetent,  when  in 
reality  they  are  superior. 

Sir  Isaac  Newton's  own  mother  declared  he 
had  no  capacity  to  fix  his  mind  upon  sensible 
things.  In  ordinary  schools  he  would  have 
been  at  the  foot  of  the  class,  a  drag  upon  the 
other  children  and  a  source  of  irritation  to  his 
teacher.  But  in  the  Batavia  schools,  or  in 
other  schools  which  have  adopted  the  Batavia 
system  his  genius  would  have  been  detected. 


138  THE  BAT  AVI  A  SYSTEM 

Precocious  ability  is  no  sure  sign  of  greatness, 
and  brains  that  seem  to  show  up  very  badly 
in  extreme  youth  often  turn  out  to  be  the  best. 


Chapter  XXI 

The  Present  View  in  Batavia^     ' 

Every  one  at  all  conversant  with  the  public 
graded  schools  of  the  last  quarter  century  has 
seen,  if  he  has  given  half  attention  to  his  sur- 
roundings, the  individual  effort  of  the  old-time 
school  overwhelmed  and  submerged  in  the 
ever-increasing  complication  of  the  modern 
curriculum.  Children  have  been  poured,  as 
wheat  into  the  hopper,  into  its  capacious  maw, 
with  the  intention  6f  bringing  forth  from  its 
millstones  a  level  and  satisfactory  product. 
Those  who  possessed  the  requisite  qualities  did 
come  forth,  in  the  end,  men  and  women  of 
worth.  But  what  of  waste  ever  attended  the 
process!  The  final  product  bore  no  relation 
in  numbers  to  the  raw  material  furnished  at  the 


*From  Sup't  E.  A.  Ladd,  formerly  principal  of  the  Batavia 
high  school 

(139) 


140  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

Start.  Hundreds,  yes  thousands  were  tossed 
out  of  its  machinery  upon  the  waste-heap,  and 
every  succeeding  year  has  seen  its  machinery 
become  more  intricate,  its  waste  more  enor- 
mous. 

Individual  Instruction  strives  to  save  those 
who  are  thus  rejected,  aims  to  save  the  one 
and  all.  It  hastens  to  put  arms  of  love  and 
sympathy  about  those  who,  by  any  means 
may  be  less  fortunate  than  their  fellows.  It 
recognizes  the  fact,  too  often  overlooked,  that 
the  progress  of  the  mass  must  be  measured  not 
by  its  fore-runners  but  by  those  who  mark  the 
rear.  It  maintains  that  each  and  every  child 
is  endowed  with  an  inherent  and  inalienable 
right  to  receive  a  share  in  the  kingdom  of  knowl- 
edge. Upon  these  three  great  ideas  individual 
instruction  bases  its  thesis. 

The  application  of  individual  instruction  is 
simple.  The  day-after-day  recitation  is  super- 
seded by  class-recitation  alternating  with  in- 
dividual recitation.     This  division  of  time  forms 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  141 

the  sine  qua  non  of  its  successful  use,  whether 
the  grade  be  large  or  small,  or  conducted  by 
one  or  two  teachers.  It  is  also  essential  that 
the  consecutive  recitations  of  the  daily  pro- 
gram should  also  alternate  between  the  two 
forms  of  recitation.  In  the  purely  class-recita- 
tion form  of  instruction,  where  the  pupils  recite 
turn  and  turn  about,  success  in  work  for  all  can 
be  obtained  only  when  all  the  pupils  are  equally 
endowed  with  mental  capability,  live  in  similar 
environments,  and  undergo  like  accidents  in 
life.  Such  a  situation  is  manifestly  impossible. 
There  must  of  necessity  be  found  in  any  group 
of  children  some  whose  mental  gifts  are  fewer, 
whose  surroundings  are  less  desirable,  whose 
ancestry  is  more  tainted  with  weakness,  whose 
life  influences  are  on  a  lower  plane  than  those 
of  others.  When  mass  methods  as  exemplified 
in  pure  class  instruction  are  applied  to  such 
heterogeneity,  waste  must  inevitably  ensue. 
Those  well-equipped  with  favorable  qualities 
will  forge  ahead;  those,  lacking  these  qualities, 


142  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

some  or  all,  will  gravitate  to  the  rear;  while  all 
the  way  between  the  two  extremes  will  be  found 
others  whose  capacities  reach  various  degrees 
of  perfection.  The  teacher,  endowed  as  are 
most  human  beings  with  human  frailties,  is 
apt,  after  more  or  less  of  effort,  to  abandon 
many  of  those  who  are  behind  the  line  of 
average  to  their  fate  and  devote  her  attention 
to  such  as  she  often  styles  the  deserving, 
though  in  reality  she  is  following  the  line  of 
least  resistance,  a  habit  that  has  caused  nine- 
tenths  of  the  trouble  in  teaching.  The  neglected 
ones,  after  periods  of  school  life  of  various 
lengths,  withdraw  from  fruitless  endeavor  to 
ieam,  and  enter  the  army  of  those  who  toil 
below  the  dead  line  of  recompense.  Their 
departure  is  witnessed  often  by  the  teacher  with 
a  sense  of  relief.  It  is  so  easy  to  blame  their 
failure  upon  natural  dullness,  family  need  of 
the  money  they  may  earn,  industrial  demand 
for  their  services:  upon  anything  in  short  save 
the  real  and  true  reason,  the    failure  of  the 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  143 

teacher  to  teach.  When  the  final  reckoning  is 
cast  in  such  classes  there  is  gratulation  and  joy 
on  the  teacher's  part  if  even  a  tithe  of  the  child- 
ren can  be  reported  as  successful. 

The  teacher  who  uses  the  individual  form  of 
instruction  feels  keenly  for  those  who  are  not 
present  at  this  final  roll-call.  She  is  filled  with 
a  mighty  yearning  to  count  every  one  intrusted 
to  her  care  among  the  jewels  of  her  crown. 
When  comes  the  day  for  individual  work,  she 
calls  the  child  who  is  stumbling  or  who  has  been 
retarded  by  illness  or  other  circumstance  to  her 
side.  Seated  there  at  the  desk,  in  comparative 
seclusion,  she  clears  away  the  trouble  that 
unless  removed  may  ruin  the  child's  educational 
career  for  good  and  all.  However,  she  tells 
nothing  of  this  work,  but  by  tactful  and  judi- 
cious questioning  leads  the  pupil  to  master  his 
work.  A  double  gain  results.  The  child  is 
advanced  in  his  work,  while  the  rest  of  the  class 
are  busily  engaged  along  the  recitation  forms  in 
the    preparation    for   advanced  work.     When, 


144  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

next  day,  they  are  all  called  to  class  recitation, 
matters  move  smoothly.  That  waste  of  time 
that  always  occurs  when  the  backward  pupil, 
at  the  board  or  in  recitation,  flounders  helplessly 
about,  is  avoided.  The  other  members  of  the 
class,  instead  of  sitting  by  as  amused  specta- 
tors, are  all  busy.  They  have  no  chance  to  sit 
in  idleness  until  the  exasperated  teacher  says 
curtly  that  the  painful  exhibition  shall  end 
and  the  work  be  taken  up  by  another.  In  a 
class  individually  instructed  there  is  no  noise 
louder  than  the  low  question  and  answer  of  the 
two  at  the  desk.  All  others  may  study,  with 
nothing  to  divert  attention.  It  follows  from 
this  way  of  conducting  recitation,  that  the  class 
loses  no  time  because  of  omitted  class  periods 
but  rather  accomplishes  more  than  can  be 
accomplished  by  the  pure  class-hearing  method. 
The  teacher  using  Individual  Instruction 
will  not  find  it  necessary  to  call  to  her  desk, 
day  after  day,  the  same  pupils.  When  she  has 
led  her  dull  boy  to  the  mastery  of  one  problem. 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  145 

she  has  given  him  strength  that  will  enable  him- 
to  grapple  successfully  with  the  next.  Thus 
gaining  mental  power  from  time  to  time,  the 
backward  child  soon  becomes  the  average  child 
and  often  the  leading  child.  When  this  de- 
sirable condition  has  been  wrought,  another 
takes  his  place  at  the  table.  This  constant 
application  of  attention  and  interest  to  those 
composing  the  rear  division  of  the  class  results 
finally   in  bringing   the   whole   body   into   one 

straight  line,  able  triumphantly  to  advance  to 

« 

the  attempting  of  other  tasks,  because  all  are 
conscious  of  the  power  to  do. 

Individual  Instruction  is  a  boon  to  the  back- 
ward child.  It  aids  the  bright  and  intelligent 
as  well.  Errors  in  mental  processes  and  mis- 
takes in  the  writing  of  exercises  are  kept  from 
their  sight.  In  the  usual  class  form  of  recita- 
tion, these  errors  and  their  correction  consume 
a  large  part  of  the  time,  time  that  in  individual 
instruction  is  available  to  all  pupils  not  at  the 
desk  for   quiet  and   uninterrupted    work.     To 


146  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

see  every  pupil  at  work,  and  making  use  of  every 
minute,  is  an  inspiration.  These  busy  pupils 
see  little  or  no  public  exhibition  of  errors  in 
individual  instruction.  Those,  if  they  occur, 
are  corrected  quietly  at  the  desk.  Incorrect 
sentences  in  language  work,  or  faulty  methods 
in  solution  of  problems  surely  work  harm  to 
all  pupils  who  observe  them,  even  though  those 
pupils  are  fully  able  to  think  in  the  right  way. 
Thus  it  can  be  clearly  seen  that  a  class  in  indi- 
vidual instruction  is  protected  from  the  dam- 
aging influence  of  incorrect  work  to  a  large 
degree.  It  has  also  the  advantage  of  the 
esprit  du  corps  that  is  to  be  brought  about  only 
when  every  individual  in  a  company  knows 
that  all  others  are  swinging  forward,  bent  upon 
the  same  goal,  that  satisfaction  that  arises 
when  a  regiment  of  soldiers  arrives  upon  the 
field  of  battle  with  no  stragglers  lagging  along 
the  line  of  march.  Every  place  is  filled.  All 
stand  shoulder  to  shoulder,  proud  of  their  fel- 
lows' achievements,  and  sure  in  their  support. 


INDIVIDUAL   TEACHING  147 

Individual  instruction  goes  a  long  way  to- 
ward solving  the  problem  of  discipline.  The 
child  who  is  not  interested  in  school  work,  turns 
his  activities  in  the  direction  of  mischief.  This 
lack  of  interest  is  unnatural,  for  the  normal 
child  is  eager  to  work  in  school  if  he  can  at  all 
times  see  the  profitable  results  in  that  work. 
In  the  crowded  school-room,  it  is  very  easy  for 
him,  either  through  inability  to  grasp  principles 
as  readily  as  his  fellows,  or  through  the  failure 
of  his  teacher  to  recognize  the  instant  of  his 
wavering,  to  fall  behind  the  average.  One  link 
in  his  development  lost,  his  whole  chain  of  pro- 
gress is  of  no  avail.  He  becomes  hopelessly 
involved  in  a  tangle  of  facts.  As  soon  as  he 
sees  that  he  has  lost  his  relative  rank  in  his  class, 
he  naturally  becomes  discouraged  and  dis- 
orderly, thus  giving  rise  to  a  vexing  problem, 
for  he  cannot  be  removed  from  school  until  he 
reaches  the  age  limit  or  passes  the  maximum 
test  provided  by  law.  Had  his  difficulty  been 
overcome   when   first   he   encountered   it,    his 


148  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

educational  development  would  have  received 
no  check.  He  would  have  gone  on  from  grade 
to  grade  and  perhaps  even  finished  high  school. 
As  long  as  he  achieved  success  in  his  school 
tasks,  he  would  have  continued  his  effort,  and 
maintained  good  deportment,  for  busy  brains 
find  little  time  for  pranks.  Individual  Instruc- 
tion thus  accomplishes  two  great  results:  the 
children  remain  in  school,  thereby  greatly  les- 
sening the  percentage  of  withdrawal,  while 
discipline  •  is  ^  reduced  to  the  minimum  and  in 
many  cases  its  need  is  entirely  eradicated. 

No  less  'important  than  any  of  the  results 
so  far  mentioned,  is  the  beneficial  influence  that 
Individual  Instruction  exerts  upon  the  teacher 
herself.  By  this  is  meant  not  only  the  physical 
advantage  fto-  be  derived  from  relief  from  con- 
stant efforts  in  the  conducting  of  classes,  but 
also  the  complete  revolution  that  it  works  in 
her  conception  of  the  duties  of  the  office  she 
fills.  It  needs  no  demonstration  to  show  that 
the  teacher  must  receive  bodilv  rest  from  the 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  149 

individual  period.  She  will  also  be  able  to 
conduct  the  next  class  period  with  less  strain, 
for  much  of  the  vexatious  delay  and  irritating 
complications  connected  usually  with  it  has 
been  avoided  by  having  all  of  the  pupils  levelled 
up  through  the  individual  training  of  the  slow 
and  the  dull.  She  will,  again,  be  enabled  better 
to  understand  each  child  that  she  invites  to  her 
desk,  the  directly  personal  and,  as  one  might 
say,  frankly  confidential  relations  thus  estab- 
lished. Individual  Instruction  thus  reaches 
out  and  embraces  child  study,  giving  the  teach- 
er a  powerful  lever  with  which  to  execute  her 
work.  Yet  all  of  this  is  of  minor  importance, 
when  the  retroactive  influences  that  the  Indi- 
vidual Instruction  exerts  upon  the  teacher  are 
considered.  When  the  teacher  comes  to  see 
that  every  backward  child  can  be  redeemed 
and  set  upon  the  high  road  of  education,  she 
will  be  filled  with  the  magnitude  of  her  calling. 
Instead  of  rejoicing  when  the  dull  child  leaves 
school,  she  will  be  satisfied  only  when  that  leak 


150  THE  BAT  AVI  A  SYSTEM 

has  been  stopped  by  bringing  every  pupil  to 
the  successful  end  of  work.  She  will  not  re- 
gard children  as  natural  foes,  to  be  endured 
for  a  season  and  then  dismissed  with  thankful- 
ness. She  will  rather  see  in  all  of  them  oppor- 
tunities for  the  exercise  of  love  and  sympathy. 
Her  vocation  will  become  to  her  a  joy,  measured 
not  by  the  stipend  she  receives,  but  by  the  possi- 
bilities, it  offers  for  the  uplift  of  individuals,  and, 
through  them,  the  uplift  of  the  human  race. 
Individual  Instruction  carried  to  its  logical 
conclusion  means  a  new  race  of  teachers,  men 
and  women  whose  hearts  will  be  filled  with  a 
mighty  love  for  children,  who  will  not  be  con- 
tent until  every  straying,  lagging  child  is  safely 
brought  into  the  fold  of  education.  The  whole 
system  as  conceived  by  its  able  and  far-seeing 
originator,  is  based  upon  that  sublime  utterance 
of  the  Greatest  of  all  Teachers,  "Suffer  little 
children  to  come  unto  me  and  forbid  them  not." 


Chapter  XXII 

Elimination  of  the  Ninth  Grade* 

Last  spring  Superintendent  Belknap  of  the 
Lockport  schools  visited  Batavia  to  investigate 
individual  instruction.  Soon  afterwards  M.  A. 
Federspeil,  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Education 
of  Lockport,  also  made  an  investigation  here. 
Both  were  so  favorably  impressed  with  the 
Batavia  system  that  Superintendent  Belknap 
returned  and  brought  with  him  the  principal 
of  the  Lockport  high  school  and  several  teachers 
who  spent  the  day  visiting  our  schools.  As  a 
result  the  Batavia  system  has  been  adopted  by 
Lockport  and  an  article  in  regard  to  the  matter 
appeared  in  the  Lockport   Union-Sun  which  in 

part  was  as  follows: 

***** 

The  Board  of  Education  last  night  adopted 


*From  the  Batavia  Sunday  Times 
(151) 


152  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

a  report  of  the  committee  on  teachers,  text  books 
and  schools,  recommending  the  installation  of 
the  Batavia  plan  of  instruction  in  the  local  public 
schools  at  the  beginning  of  the  school  year  in 
September.  This  method  provides  for  definite 
and  specific  class  and  individual  teaching,  one- 
half  of  the  school  session  being  devoted  to  each. 

This  system  was  highly  recommended  by 
Trustee  M.  A.  Federspeil,  chairman  of  the 
committee,  who  presented  the  report  urging  its 
adoption,  and  also  by  Sup't  of  Schools  Emmet 
Belknap,  both  of  whom  visited  the  schools  of 
Batavia  on  several  occasions  and  witnessed  a 
practical  demonstration  of  the  teaching  in  vogue 
in  that  city.  Sup't  Belknap  on  one  of  his  visits 
was  accompanied  by  a  number  of  the  local 
teachers,  who  were  much  interested  in  the  work 
performed   there. 

Trustee  Federspeil  claimed  that  changing 
from  the  method  now  in  use  here  to  that  prac- 
ticed at  Batavia  involved  considerable  altera- 
tion in  instruction.     He  believed  that  by  it 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  153 

however,  students  would  accomplish  more  than 
under  the  present  plan,  the  Batavia  plan  seemed 
to  draw  more  out  of  each  than  is  possible  under 
the  system  here. 

He  thought  that  the  new  plan  would  meet 
with  the  disapproval  of  the  older  teachers  here, 
but  the  younger  teachers,  he  imagined,  would 
adapt  themselves  to  it  more  readily.  Its  sim- 
pleness  in  reaching  the  dull  and  backward  stu- 
dent commended  it  most  highly,  as  it  enabled 
the  pupils  to  get  through  their  school  work  much 
earlier  than  is  possible  in  this  city. 

President  Earl,  Trustees  Griggs,  Whitmore 
and  others  believed  the  introduction  of  the  new 
system  in  the  local  schools  would  be  a  step  in 
the  right  direction.  The  committee's  report 
was  then  unanimously  adopted. 

Sup't  Belknap  next  presented  a  report  re- 
garding the  elimination  of  the  ninth  year  in  the 
grade  schools  and  also  recommending  the  Bata- 
via plan,  which  was  adopted.  His  report  was 
as  follows: 


154  THE  BATxWIA  SYSTEM 

In  making  plans  for  the  elimination  of  the 
ninth  year  of  elementary  school  course,  as  di- 
rected by  you,  I  have  previously  suggested  and 
you  have  authorized  the  semi-annual  classifica- 
tion and  promotion  of  pupils.  Since  that  time, 
I  have  had  occasion  to  reflect  upon  the  fact 
that  such  classification  and  advancement  will 
be  more  difficult  here  than  in  cities  in  which  the 
school  buildings  are  larger  so  as  to  contain  all 
elementary  grades  and  permit  frequent  re- 
classification in  the  same  school  and  building 
than  in  our  case,  where  we  have  no  building 
instructing  all  elementary  grades,  so  that  pupils 
have  to  change  schools  twice  or  three  times 
before  reaching  the  Union  school  building. 

I  have  had  all  through  this  year — as  in  pre- 
vious years — very  frequent  occasion  to  reflect 
upon  the  difficulty  of  so  grading  pupils  in  classes 
not  too  difficult  for  teachers,  to  observe  the 
necessity  of  much  individual  teaching,  and  to 
provide  for  it  by  all  sorts  of  temporary  expe- 
dients and  by  employing  extra  assistants  where 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  155 

classes  were  large  or  teachers  not  in  health,  in 
order  to  prevent  pupils  falling  behind  their 
respective  grades  and  classes.  Unless  this  is 
done,  pupils  who  have  reached  the  age  of  legal 
employment  are  much  less  inclined  to  remain 
at  school,  and  to  leave  as  early  as  they  can  do  so. 
An  increased  number  of  such  leave  school  each 
year.  I  have  issued  105  school  records  for 
pupils  leaving  school  under  sixteen  years  of  age 
since  the  schools  opened  last  September,  and 
others  have  withdrawn  who  did  not  take  out 
employment  papers. 

I  have  come  to  feel  that  of  more  importance 
than  semi-annual  classification  and  advance- 
ment, is  that  the  necessity  of  definite  and  sys- 
tematic individual  teaching  by  the  regular 
teachers  should  be  recognized  and  definitely 
provided  for.  I  have  made  a  careful  study  by 
observation  and  comparison  of  the  results  ob- 
tained under  such  provision  in  the  schools  of 
Batavia,  where  such  plan  and  provision  have 
been  consistently  pursued  during  a  period  of 


156  THE  BAT  AVI  A  SYSTEM 

14  years  past,  and  have  come  to  the  conckision 
that  it  is  my  duty  to  call  attention  to  it,  and  to 
recommend  that  a  similar  system  be  authorized 
and  provided  in  our  schools.  By  the  simple 
provision  there  that  all  teachers  devote  one- 
half  of  the  time  of  instruction  to  classes  and  the 
other  half  to  individual  teaching,  giving  the 
individual  teaching  to  all  children,  so  that  those 
more  capable  may  be  advanced  more  rapidly 
and  those  less  capable  move  forward  as  rapidly 
as  their  ability  under  personal  attention  will 
permit,  they  are  accomplishing  all  that  we  seek 
to  accomplish  by  the  elimination  of  the  ninth 
year,  are  holding  their  pupils  longer  in  school, 
and  their  grammar  and  high  school  registration 
is  largely  increased  and  increasing,  while  ours 
is  lessening.  I  find  that  it  is  done  without 
strain  and  worry  of  either  pupils  or  teachers, 
that  their  teachers  are  less  frequently  absent 
because  of  illness  due  to  overwork,  that  more 
of  the  work  is  accomplished  in  the  regular  school 
hours,  and  that  less  work  and  study  has  to  be 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  157 

done   by  either   teachers   or   pupils    at   home. 

Individual  instruction  is  continually  neces- 
sary. It  is  unavoidable  if  pupils  are  to  be  en- 
abled to  learn  and  to  progress  in  their  classes 
as  they  should  do,  and  we  have  been  doing  it 
in  an  unscientific,  spasmodic  and  uneconomical 
way  by  taking  valuable  time  in  class  recitation 
periods  to  try  to  have  pupils  recite  and  perform 
what  they  do  not  know  sufficiently  and  by  fre- 
quent and  sometimes  long  detentions  after 
school.  The  worst  of  it  is  that  in  many  cases 
it  is  thus  done  ineffectually,  and  that  in  other 
cases  where  it  was  most  needed  and  due  the 
pupil,  it  has  not  been  done  at  all. 

By  the  Batavia  plan  pupils  gain  from  1-4  to 
1-3  of  time  for  study  in  school ;  the  teacher  knows 
much  better  the  real  mental  condition  of  every 
child  under  her  instruction,  more  is  accomplish- 
ed in  fewer  recitations,  detentions  after  school 
to  make  up  work  are  brief  and  less  frequent, 
less  study  has  to  be  done  out  of  school  hours, 
teachers  do  not  have  to  spend  so  many  hours 


158  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

looking  over  and  marking  test  and  lesson  exer- 
cises at  home  in  the  evening,  and  the  spirit  and 
health  of  pupils  and  teachers  are  conserved.  I 
could  not  help  noticing  the  cordial  and  spon- 
taneous fine  spirit  of  teachers  and  pupils  in  their 
school  work  there. 

In  three  separate  visits  in  many  school  rooms 
of  all  the  grades  I  always  found  pupils  busily 
and  happily  at  work,  no  inclination  to  be  indo- 
lent, mischievous  or  to  waste  time  or  to  be  in  any 
way  disorderly.  I  do  not  recall  seeing  or  hearing 
any  teacher  have  to  chide  or  correct  a  child  for 
disorder  or  disobedience.  The  atmosphere  and 
the  spirit  of  all  rooms  breathed  freedom,  happi- 
ness, pride  in  their  work,  and  the  expectation 
and  consciousness  of  success  was  uniformly 
manifest.  This  because  all  were  doing  what 
they  needed  to  do  and  were  capable  of  doing, 
because  the  teacher  was  intelligently  conscious 
of  the  condition  of  each  child,  and  by  personal 
attention  making  his  or  her  ultimate  success 
a  reasonable  certainty. 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  159 

Discipline  is  good  and  natural  there,  and  I 
understand  that  punishment  by  the  rod  or  by 
harsh  measure  has  been  avoided  there  for  years. 

The  individual  plan  in  connection  with  class 
instruction  does  not  increase  the  cost  of  instruc- 
tion, and  it  is  not  accomplished  by  greater  work 
or  strain  on  the  part  of  teachers.  In  rooms  of 
ordinary  size  classes  one  teacher  does  all  of  the 
work  of  instruction,  except  that  done  by  special 
teachers  of  drawing,  music,  etc. ;  but  if  the  class 
is  excessive  in  size,  SO  or  more,  two  teachers  are 
placed  in  the  room — one  to  do  individual,  the 
other  class  work,  though  they  are  privileged  to 
interchange  and  combine  their  work  as  desired 
under  approval  of  the  superintendent. 

Their  classification  and  promotion  of  classes 
are  yearly,  but  by  their  system  individual  pro- 
motions or  demotions,  which  are  sometimes 
advisable,  are  easily  and  freely  made  at  any 
time,  pupils  gaining  grades  by  making  the  work, 
not  by  skipping  it.  I  would  adopt  the  essential 
features   of   the   system   and  believe   that   on 


160  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

proper  trial  it  would  greatly  commend  itself  to 
all  concerned,  parents,  pupils  and  teachers, 
and  that  the  scholarship  of  our  schools  would 
not  be  lessened  but  much  strengthened  in 
general. 

In  all  my  examination  of  pupils  who  have 
been  reported  to  me  as  deficient  and  not  suc- 
ceeding with  their  work  and  unable  to  accom- 
plish the  work  of  the  grade  in  which  they  had 
been  placed,  I  found  that,  unless  it  was  a  case 
of  intellectual  deficiency  or  physical  disability, 
individual  teaching  was  the  one  and  only  rem- 
edy, and  that  if  it  had  been  intelligently  applied 
and  persevered  in  the  condition  would  not  have 
arisen.  It  is  due  to  every  child,  and  I  do  not 
think  any  school  system  has  a  right  to  disregard 
it  or  to  fail  to  provide  definitely  for  it.  Teachers 
who  have  for  a  long  time  been  accustomed  to 
the  old  way  of  teaching  may,  at  the  beginning, 
be  apprehensive  that  it  means  increased  labor 
and  strain  for  them,  but  I  am  confident  that 
when  they  see  how  it  improves  the  work  of  their 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  161 

pupils  and  increases  their  aspiration  for  work 
and  progress,  and  that  it  removes  much  of  the 
strain  and  emancipates  them  from  much  that 
has  to  be  drugery  under  the  former  plan  of 
teaching,  they  will  be  grateful  and  thankful  for 
it  and  co-operate  cheerfully  and  intelligently. 
It  means  good,  discriminating  teaching  that 
accomplishes  results,  because  rightly  applied, 
and  does  not  have  to  be  done  over  and  over 
again  in  order  to  accomplish  a  minimum  of 
result. 


Chapter  XXIII 

Strengthening  the  Graded  System^ 

In  response  to  your  request  for  a  special  report 
on  the  present  status  of  the  Batavia  plan  in 
Batavia  and  the  observed  results  of  its  use,  I 
beg  leave  to  submit  the  following: 

The  plan  is  in  full  operation  here,  and  is  well 
started  on  its  fourteenth  year  of  use.  It  may 
therefore  be  said  to  have  stood  the  test  of  time. 

Its  popularity  at  the  outstart  was  instantan- 
eous. The  people  understood  it  at  once,  and 
applauded  it.  At  present  I  see  no  abatement 
of  its  popularity.  : 

I  think  that  I  have  observed  many  and 
varied  results  springing  from  the  use  of  this  plan. 
Some  of  those  results  have  been  surprising  and 
all  have  been  gratifying.  I  cannot  hope  to  go 
into  them  all,  but  will  mention  some. 


*A  report  made  by  request  of  the  School  of    Pedagogy   of 
Chicago  University 

(162) 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  163 

When  a  crowd  are  assembled  it  is  either  up- 
lift or  crush  for  the  individual.  We  think  that 
our  plan  has  secured  the  inspiration  and  warded 
off  the  danger. 

Where  there  is  inequality  of  condition  the 
crowd  becomes  a  tangled  mass.  The  attempt 
to  move  a  tangled  mass  is  overstrain.  Under 
our  plan  we  think  there  is  no  strain.  Our 
teachers  we  think  are  becoming  more  vigor- 
ous from  year  to  year. 

Worry  of  any  kind  has  its  goal  in  break-down, 
if  not  in  death.  And  few  people  are  aware  how 
contagious  a  thing  nervous  debility  is.  Nerves 
are  responsive  to  nerves.  We  think  that  worry 
has  been  eliminated  here,  and  that  our  children 
are  calm,  composed,  safe,  and  vigorous. 

Sanitation  should  be  the  first  care  of  school 
management.  Under  our  plan  I  think  that 
our  schools  have  become  not  only  sanitary  but 
salubrious.  That  is  I  think  that  schools  prop- 
erly individualled  become  conducive  to  the  re- 
covery of  impaired  or  lost  health. 


164  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

Interested  occupation  is  preoccupation,  and 
all  know  that  preoccupation  in  good  things  is 
the  best  safe-guard  against  the  approach  of  evil 
things.  I  think  that  our  plan  tends  toward 
absorbed  preoccupation  in  the  good  work  of 
getting  an  education.  This  is  not  only  a  nega- 
tive safe-guard,  but  it  is  also  a  positive  promo- 
tive of  character  by  supplying  high  aims. 

I  have  implied  already  that  our  order  and 
discipline  have  greatly  improved.  They  have 
greatly  improved;  and  it  is  the  right  kind  of 
order;  it  is  the  order  that  not  only  permits  busi- 
ness to  proceed ;  it  is  the  order  that  is  an  atmos- 
phere that  nourishes  the  growth  of  character. 
Where  energy  is  expended  in  securing  a  sem- 
blance of  order,  the  same  energy  must  be  em- 
ployed in  maintaining  it.  There  is  tension  that 
is  depleting  and  depressing  all  around. 

Our  individual  teaching  has  enabled  us  to 
move  our  grades.  They  do  not  now  sink  down 
by  their  own  weight.  Our  children  all  move 
forward  and  arrive  on  time.     The  quick  one  no 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  165 

longer  marks  time ;  he  sets  the  pace  for  the  rest 
of  them ;  and  the  rest  line  up  on  him.  There  is 
no  longer  any  retardation.  There  is  no  longer 
any  necessity  for  skipping  grades  in  order  to 
get  on.  We  always  allow  an  individual  to  gain 
a  grade  where  it  is  to  his  advantage  to  do  so. 
The  gainer  of  a  grade  needs  individual  attention ; 
and  under  our  plan  he  gets  it.  Let  no  one  sup- 
pose that  the  individualling  is  done  only  with 
children  of  questionable  capacity.  There  are 
numerous  circumstances  that  send  our  brightest 
pupils  at  times  to  the  individual  table. 

It  is  here  that  we  get  the  benefit  of  schooling. 
The  child's  first  incentive  is  to  line  up  with  his 
fellows.  He  works  first  for  his  line;  then  he 
works  because  of  enjoyment  in  his  work,  and  at 
last  he  works  for  grand  remote  aims.  When 
his  acquisitive  powers  are  trained,  and  when  he 
can  see  the  goal  of  life,  he  may  then  work  out 
his  own  salvation  in  the  solitude  of  home. 

The  school  classes  and  grades  should  move 
forward  in  lines  dressed  at  right-angles  to  the 
line  of  advancement. 


166  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

No  child  has  been  promoted  here  as  a  favor; 
no  child  has  been  promoted  here  to  get  him  out 
of  the  way,  Every  child  here  has  been  pro- 
moted because  he  has  shown  under  severe  test 
that  he  was  ready  for  promotion.  Under 
separate  cover  I  send  you  transcripts  of  the 
promotion  examinations  records.  These  records 
are  kept  on  file  at  the  office  of  the  Board  of 
Education  for  the  inspection  of  all.  Any  in- 
vestigator will  find  there  the  school  record  of 
every  child  for  a  series  of  years. 

You  will  observe  that  every  child  has  passed 
the  minimum;  that  nearly  all  of  them  have  a 
comfortable  margin  beyond  the  minimum;  and 
that  most  of  them  are  hovering  around  the 
maximum.  We  could  not  get  any  such  results 
until  we  resorted  to  individualling.  We  would 
not  have  thought  such  results  credible. 

It  may  perhaps  strengthen  confidence  in  the 
integrity  and  searchingness  of  the  examination 
to  say  that  the  questions  for  all  above  the  fourth 
grade  come  from  Albany,  and  that  the  examina- 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  167 

tions  are  conducted  under  regulations  fixed  by 
the  state  department.  I  have  many  reasons 
for  favoring  a  strong  state  department ;  and  not 
the  least  is  that  they  make  statistics  of  some 
value. 

One  conspicuous  result  of  our  individual 
teaching  is  that  it  has  enabled  us  to  keep  our 
grades  intact.  There  is  not  an  ungraded  school 
nor  an  ungraded  room  in  this  town,  nor  is  there 
a  grade  section.  Grade  section  seems  to  me 
the  first  step  towards  grade  dissection;  in  other 
words  the  first  step  toward  the  ungraded  school. 
Perhaps  the  ungraded  school  is  needed  but  I 
do  not  think  so.  I  do  not  think  that  we  need 
to  go  back  sixty  years.  The  people  of  sixty 
years  ago  were  not  contented;  they  struggled 
for  progress,  and  to  some  purpose;  they  gave  us 
the  graded  school.  And  I  think  that  they  gave 
a  great  contribution. 

Since  we  have  been  attending  to  the  indi- 
vidual we  have  seen  no  necessity  for  disturbing 
our  annual  intervals  and  annual   promotions. 


168  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

I  think  that  there  is  an  advantage  in  having  the 
elementary  grades  conform  to  the  practice  that 
is  universal  in  the  secondary  schools,  colleges, 
and  universities.  The  grading  of  the  elementary 
schools  was  but  an  extension  downward  of  the 
organization  that  proved  so  satisfactory  in 
higher  education.  We  think  that  it  obviates 
much  confusion,  and  that  it  is  better  in  every 
way,  to  have  a  third  year  child,  for  example, 
mean  one  thing,  and  not  two  things.  There  is 
something  gained,  I  think,  by  symmetry  and 
clearness.  Furthermore  where  the  purpose  is 
integration  rather  than  disintegration  I  think 
that  a  semi-annual  promotion  is  premature. 
We  need  the  full  year,  and  the  children  need 
the  full  year,  in  order  to  reach  the  best  results. 
A  very  noticeable  result  of  our  plan  has  been 
the  remarkable  expansion  of  our  upper  grades 
and  high  school.  In  a  total  enrollment  of  1750 
there  are  over  850  in  the  upper  seven  of  the 
twelve  grades.  In  a  total  enrollment  of  1750 
there  are  375  in  the  high  school  and  125  in  the 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  169 

8th  grade.  Those  8th  grade  pupils  are  practi- 
cally high  school  students  as  they  are  all  study- 
ing algebra  and  other  high  school  branches;  so 
you  may  say  without  much  exaggeration  that 
in  a  total  enrollment  of  1750  we  have  500  in  the 
high  school. 

And  what  those  students  are  doing  in  the 
high  school  I  look  upon  as  a  result  of  our  plan. 
We  require  geometry  and  one  or  two  other 
things.  But  in  the  main  our  high  school  course 
is  elective.  I  think  that  what  our  students  have 
elected  is  quite  significant  of  the  workings  of 
our  plan.  We  believe  most  heartily  in  indus- 
trial education  and  have  made  ample  provision 
for  it.  I  think,  however,  that  industrialism 
should  be  taught  in  the  atmosphere  of  culture. 
A  proper  education  implies  immediate  aims  and 
remote  aims.  They  should  never  in  my  opinion 
be  divorced. 

I  do  not  say  that  those  who  choose  remote 
aims  always  choose  wisely;  but  I  do  say  that 
the  mere  fact  that  thev  have  chosen  remote 


170  THE  BAT  AVI  A  SYSTEM 

aims  is  a  high  compHment  to  them  and  to  their 
teacher.  The  election  in  our  high  school  has 
compelled  us  to  provide  extensively  for  cultural 
as  well  as  practical  work.  And  this  is  as  it 
should  be.  The  one  makes  the  other  virile  and 
available;  the  other  humanizes,  refines,  and 
ennobles  the  one. 

It  is  only  a  corollary  of  the  foregoing  to  say 
that  our  students  are  going  to  college  in  larger 
numbers  and  seeking  the.  benefits  of  higher 
education.  We  have  about  fifty  students  in 
the  colleges  at  present.  And  I  mean  the  colleges 
of  liberal  culture  as  distinguished  from  the 
technical  and  professional  schools.  We  have 
other  numbers  in  those  schools;  and  they  make 
quite  a  colony,  or  even  a  community  on  their 
home-comings. 

The  school  register  is  I  think  a  good  index 
of  the  efficiency  and  success  of  the  school.  A 
school  must  take  hold  in  order  to  tend  toward 
a  maximum  of  registration  and  a  maximum  of 
average   daily   attendance.     I   think   that   our 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  171 

registers  have  shown  a  gratifying  response  to 
our  plan.  Whatever  expands  the  aggregate 
registration  and  average  attendance  tends  to 
reduce  the  per  capita  cost  of  education.  We 
have  been  reducing  the  per  capita  since  the 
introduction  of  the  Batavia  plan.  But  we  have 
also  been  reducing  the  aggregate  and  actual 
cost  by  reducing  the  number  of  buildings,  the 
number  of  janitors,  the  number  of  separate 
equipments,  and  other  items.  The  reduction 
of  expense  has  never  been  a  motive  with  us, 
but' it  will  be  of  interest  to  those  who  would  like 
to  compare  the  cost  of  different  plans. 

Our  plan  tends  to  the  reduction  of  expense 
in  another  way.  It  has  taught  us  the  desira- 
bility of  larger  classes.  A  large  class  under 
proper  conditions  is  a  powerful  educational 
factor.  There  is  a  point  of  course  at  which  a 
class  will  break  down  by  its  own  weight.  But 
the  ordinary  school  cannot  reach  that,  point. 
The  trouble  with  an  ordinary  school  is  that  it 
has  to  have  many  classes  that  are  too  small. 


172  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

I  think  it  a  great  mistake  to  make  small  classes 
deliberately. 

An  efficient  school  has  a  tendency  to  approach 
the  condition  of  a  balanced  school  as  to  the 
sexes.  Ineffective  school  work  tends  to  make 
boys  cheap.  I  like  to  see  something  like  a  boy 
famine.  The  cheap  boy  sags  down  in  school 
and  he  eventually  sags  out.  It  would  be  well 
for  him  if  no  one  worse  that  the  green-grocer 
got  hold  of  him.  When  the  hoodlum  swarms 
in  the  street  and  infests  public  places  it  shows 
that  boys  are  very  cheap.  The  good  school  is 
the  Noah's  ark  for  the  immature  boy. 

The  Batavia  plan  is  not  a  labor-saving  device ; 
it  is  rather  a  labor-making  device.  Our  teachers 
and  pupils  are  very  busy;  they  have  much  to 
do  to  meet  on  time  all  the  demands  made  upon 
them.  But  such  is  the  law  of  the  matter. 
There  is  no  royal  road  to  a  generous  and  sus- 
taining education.  Work  and  sustained  dili- 
gence are  the  price  of  education.  Indeed  work 
and  diligence  are  education  in  its  best  aspect. 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  173 

Let  no  one  have  any  fears  of  work  and  diligence. 
If  force,  and  strain,  and  unkindness,  and  bitter- 
ness, and  cross-purposes  are  eliminated  you 
cannot  impose  too  much  work  and  diligence; 
the  well  will  get  sick  on  worry;  the  sick  will 
get  well  on  work  and  diligence. 

You  will  naturally  ask  what  our  experience 
has  been  with  reference  to  atypical,  defective 
and  subnormal  children.  I  do  not  see  any 
reason  why  we  should  not  have  our  share  of  all 
kinds  of  unfortunates.  I  believe  that  we  do 
have  our  full  share  of  them.  I  cite  you  again 
to  the  promotion  reports.  If  those  were  select- 
ed children  the  data  would  be  worth  nothing. 
Those  are  all  our  children.  It  must  be  ac- 
knowledged that  many  children  are  handicapped 
at  the  outstart  in  many  ways  by  mental  and 
physical  troubles.  For  such  children  there  is 
no  chance  at  all  in  the  school  that  teaches  only 
en  masse;  they  are  foredoomed.  As  to  what 
can  be  done  with  them  in  the  school  that  singles 
out  the  individual  to  deal  with  him  according 


.174  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

to  his  need,  I  must  cite  you  again  to  the  reports. 
I  have  to  say  that  you  will  find  among  the 
records  that  are  by  no  means  the  lowest  some 
who  were  very  seriously  handicapped. 

Any  intelligent  attempt  at  cure  implies  diag- 
nosis. The  mere  calling  of  a  lagging  and  back- 
ward child  leads  at  once  to  a  diagnosis  of  his 
case.  It  is  often  found  that  the  mere  calling 
was  all  that  he  needed.  He  was  too  far  away ; 
he  did  not  see  well,  or  he  did  not  hear  well.  By 
the  side  of  the  teacher  he  both  hears  and  sees 
and  he  looms  at  once  in  his  power.  He  is  there- 
after seated  with  reference  to  his  infirmity,  and 
his  case  is  solved.  With  some  it  is  a  wandering 
and  unmanageable  attention  that  needs  to  be 
controlled  and  trained.  With  others  it  is  a  dis- 
tressing nervous  timidity  which  has  been  their 
undoing.  Some  have  that  woful  passivity  and 
inertness  so  likely  to  mislead  the  inexperienced 
teacher ;  so  likely  to  cause  her  to  pronounce  that 
fatal  phrase  **born  short",  and  to  go  on  with  the 
go-on-ers.     But  we  have  seen  the  giant  roused 


INDIVIDUAL   TEACHING  175 

too  often  to  permit  ourselves  to  yield  to  dis- 
couragement. We  have  ''learned  to  labor  and 
to  wait".  And  by  the  way,  we  never  have  to 
wake  a  giant  twice;  when  he  once  has  realized 
his  brawniness  he  never  thereafter  forgets  it; 
he  is  never  again  a  pygmy  in  his  own  estimation. 
Some  are  late  arrivals  in  the  room  and  need 
much  adjustment.  Others  have  been  absent  by 
reason  of  illness  an(ihave  gotten  out  of  touch 
with  the  work.  Some  are  trying  to  make  an 
extra  grade.  But  whatever  the  cause  may  be 
the  teacher  has  become  expert  in  detecting  it, 
and  has  adapted  the  cure  to  the  case.  Cure  in 
the  grade  is  our  plan.  We  think  that  segrega- 
tion should  never  be  thought  of. 

But  would  I  not  segregate  the  feeble-minded 
and  incorrigibles?  Yes,  I  would  consent  to  the 
segregation  of  the  feeble-minded.  But  they 
segregate  themselves;  the  number  of  hopeless 
defectives  that  present  themselves  for  registra- 
tion in  a  public  school  does  not  amount  to  more 
than  a  fraction  of  one  per  cent.     That  is  not 


176  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

enough  to  constitute  a  problem  in  a  town  of 
only  twelve  thousand  inhabitants.  When  one 
of  those  unfortunates  presents  himself  we  regis- 
ter him  and  give  him  our  best  possible  attention. 
And  it  does  him  good  to  mingle  with  normal 
children.  He  even  learns  something.  No  one 
will  question  the  wisdom  of  segregating  the 
totally  blind  and  the  totally  deaf.  But  we  have 
advanced  stages  of  defective  sight  and  hearing 
that  are  doing  very  well. 

I  am  not  quite  ready  to  concede  the  segrega- 
tion of  the  incorrigible.  I  am  not  quite  sure 
that  a  school  system  needs  something  like  a 
lock-up.  I  am  quite  sure  that  it  would  be  very 
wicked  to  "run  in"  to  that  institution  children 
who  have  never  offended,  children  who  have 
only  suffered.  And  I  need  some  further  evi- 
dence to  convince  me  that  a  strong  grade  is  not 
the  best  place  for  an  incorrigible. 

The  immediate  goal  of  the  individual  teacher 
is  to  put  the  pupil  into  a  condition  to  react 
against  the  sweep  of  the  class,  and  to  enable  him 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  177 

to  appropriate  the  benefits  of  class-membership 
and  class-instruction.  Knowledge  is  not  the 
aim  at  the  individual  table;  it  is  power,  initia- 
tive, vigor.  It  is  not  a  taking  of  him  off  his 
feet.  It  is  a  putting  of  him  on  his  feet. 
He  cannot  get  his  lessons  at  the  individual 
table;  he  can  only  get  his  power  there;  so 
there  is  no  coaching.  This  means  of  course 
that  the  pupil  cannot  offer  himself  as  a  subject 
for  individual  attention.  Every  pupil  knows 
that  he  must  recite  on  his  own  preparation.  If 
he  does  not  recite  well  his  case  receives  such 
attention  as  it  merits.  A  plan  that  aims  at 
vigor  puts  no  premium  on  laziness  or  cowardice. 

Our  individual  teacher  does  nothing  but  ask 
questions.  It  is  no  refuge  for  an  evader  to  run 
up  against  a  questioner.  No  one  is  rendered 
weak  or  dependent  by  being  asked  a  question. 
The  question  meets  the  needy  one  at  a  crisis  in 
his  life,  and  proves  his  salvation. 

Justice  is  defined  as  the  giving  unto  each 
human  being  his  right.     The  rights  of  an  indi- 


178  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

vidual  are  exactly  co-extensive  with  his  needs. 
Needs,  rights,  and  duties  are  correlative  terms, 
covering  the  same  exact  subject  or  object  mat- 
ter. Duty  is  what  is  due  from  us,  and  what  we 
ought  to  do  is  what  we  owe  to  do.  If  anyone 
suffers  any  restriction  of  his  right  someone  is 
delinquent  in  the  discharge  of  his  duty.  Some 
one  is  either  insolvent,  or  he  is  disregardful  of 
his  obligations.  Children  have  many  debtors 
because  they  have  many  needs;  but  there  are 
few  on  whom  they  have  as  great  and  as  sacred 
claims  as  on  their  teacher. 

My  own  convictions  after  fourteen  years  of 
experience  with  this  plan  are  a  result  that  may 
possibly  be  of  interest.  I  offer  them  for  what 
they  are  worth.  I  like  our  children  as  they  are. 
I  believe  that  they  are  susceptible  of  a  fine  educa- 
tion if  we  subject  them  to  the  dual  process  of 
individual  attention  and  class  stimulus.  I  be- 
lieve that  either  of  these  processes  will  break 
down  without  the  sustaining  aid  of  the  other. 
But  in  due  combination  I  think  they  are  invin- 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  179 

cible.  But  the  combination  like  other  whole- 
some compounds  must  have  its  quantitative 
formula.  The  combination  of  individual  and 
class  instruction  that  gives  a  potency  is  the  pro- 
portion of  one  to  one.  It  is  a  formula  easily 
remembered;  it  is  H.  O.  without  any  subscribed 
exponents  or  indices  whatever. 


Chapter  XXIV 

With  Children  of  Foreign  Parentage* 

At  the  opening  of  the  September  term  in  the 
Cleveland  school,  Ishpeming,  Mich.,  we  had 
112  first-grade  children  in  one  room,  and  there 
was  no  other  room  of  any  kind  to  be  secured. 

The  pupils  are  children  of  miners;  all  but 
three  are  of  foreign  parentage,  and.  their  upper- 
most thought  and  ambition  is  to  learn  to  talk, 
read,  and  write  the  English  language,  and  the 
father  and  mother  are  anxious  to  adopt  the 
American  language  and  customs.  They  are 
mostly  Finns.  Their  first  aim  is  to  send  their 
children  to  school. 

These  first-grade  children  really  teach  their 
fathers,  mothers,  and  adult  uncles,  cousins, 
aunts,  and  boarders  the  English  they  learn  in 
school. 


♦From  New  England  Journal  of  Education.  By  Winifred 
Lacy,  M.PD.,  Principal  and  Primary  Teacher,  Cleveland  School, 
Ishpeming,  Mich. 

(180) 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  181 

I  was  facing  a  proposition  more  easily  imagin- 
ed than  described.  Superintendent  E.  E.  Scrib- 
ner  settled  it  offhand  by  saying:  ''Use  the  Bata- 
via  system/'  The  readers  of  the  Journal  of 
Education  have  long  been  familiar  with  the 
general  plan  of  Superintendent  John  Kennedy 
of  Batavia,  N.  Y.,  which  he  introduced  to  that 
city  in  1898. 

I  took  charge  of  the  room  myself  and  took  as 
my  assistant  a  high  school  graduate  with  no 
experience.  At  first  there  was  scarcely  a  child 
who  could  understand,  much  less  speak,  Eng- 
lish. For  three  weeks  we  worked  on  faith  and 
motions  chiefly.  Think  of  two  of  us  starting 
in  with  112  such  children. 

We  alternated  recitation  and  individual  work. 
While  my  assistant  heard  a  reading  lesson,  for 
instance,  I  took  the  slower  children  in  the  other 
part  of  the  class  and  helped  them  on  the  difficult 
words  and  phrases  of  the  lesson  they  would  soon 
recite  to  her. 

I  assisted  the  laggards  so  that  they  were  the 


182  THE  BAT  AVI  A  SYSTEM 

bright  ones  when  they  came  to  their  reading 
lesson.  They  knew  that  they  knew  the  words 
and  phrases  and  were  eager  to  show  how  well 
they  could  read.  They  had  a  relish  for  the 
lesson.     They  were  no  longer  timid. 

The  children  not  helped  much  were  quick 
enough  *to  read  by  themselves.  Lesson  after 
lesson  would  pass  without  a  child's  halting  or 
stumbling  over  a  word  or  phrase.  They  could 
read  two  or  three  times  as  much  in  a  given  period 
as  is  customary.  Every  child  was  in  the  game 
confidently. 

His  help  had  come  quietly,  individually,  and 
in  advance  rather  than  publicly  and  humiliat- 
ingly  after  failure. 

The  results  were  equally  surprising  in  writing, 
in  spelling,  in  language,  in  music,  and  in  draw- 
ing. 

At  the  end  of  four  months  these  112  children 
were  much  in  advance  of  a  similar  room  with 
forty-five  children  taught  in  the  regular  way 
by  an  extra  good  teacher. 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  183 

The  class  will  be  promoted  as  a  whole,  not 
more  than  three  or  four  being  retained  of  the 
112  who  entered  last  September.  In  a  class 
of  forty-five  by  the  ordinary  teaching  about 
ten  or  twelve  will  be  retarded,  or  a  rate  of 
twenty-five  to  thirty  out  of  112. 

But  the  gain  is  not  wholly  for  the  child.  It 
is  a  great  blessing  to  the  teachers.  Who  can 
estimate  the  strain  upon  a  teacher  who  from  day 
to  day  has  from  a  fourth  to  a  third  of  her  class 
hanging  back  on  her  nerves  all  the  time? 

Nothing  could  be  more  depressing  than  this. 
It  clouds  the  atmosphere  of  the  school,  it  wears 
upon  the  bright  children,  it  deadens  more  and 
more  the  slow  ones,  it  saps  the  teacher's  energy, 
racks  her  nerves,  and  often  wrecks  her  life. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  is  nothing  more  in- 
spiring than  the  conquest  of  ignorance  by  a 
child.  There  is  tonic  like  an  ocean  breeze  in 
seeing  child  after  child  gain  individual  power 
in  reading,  writing,  spelling,  use  of  English, 
music  and  drawing. 


184  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM        n 

Who  can  describe  the  joy  of  a  teacher  who  has 
seen  her  naturally  slow  pupils  become  bright, 
eager,  with  a  conquering-hero  spirit?  It  is  also 
economical,  because  the  work  of  a  quarter  of  the 
class  does  not  have  to  be  done  over  again. 

All  honor  to  John  Kennedy  of  Batavia  for 
what  he  has  done  for  the  Cleveland  school  of 
Ishpeming,  and  this  school  is  but  one  of  a 
thousand  in  England  and  America. 

The  pity  of  it  all  is  that  tens  of  thousands  of 
schools  waste  the  time  of  children,  waste  public 
money,  and  ruin  teachers*  lives,  and  often  be- 
cause of  traditional  prejudice. 


Chapter  XXV 

Advantage  over  After-school  Assistance* 

Pursuant  to  the  vote  of  your  committee  it 
was  my  privilege  to  make  during  the  month  an 
investigation  of  the  working  of  the  Batavia 
plan,  so-called,  of  individual  instruction.  I 
submit  for  your  consideration  the  following 
report. 

Everything  seemed  to  favor  the  purpose  of 
our  visit. 

We  had  ample  opportunity  to  see  the  working 
of  the  plan  in  the  rooms  with  two  teachers,  in 
those  with  one  teacher  only  and  in  the  classes 
of  the  high  school.  There  is  no  difference  in 
the  value  or  practicability  under  either  of  these 
conditions.  The  whole  problem  in  each  case 
is  a  matter  of  arranging  the  school  programme 
to  allow  time  for  both  class  and  individual  in- 


Report  of  Sup't  Stanley  H.  Holmes,  Haverhill,  Mass. 

(185) 


186  V  THE  BAT  A  VI A  SYSTEM 

struction.  The  plan  is  so  simple,  so  sensible 
and  so  satisfactory  in  its  operation  that  it  seems 
a  marvel  that  it  has  not  been  worked  out  long 
before  its  development  in  Batavia.  As  you 
step  into  one  of  the  large  rooms  in  the  Batavia 
schools  you  observe  that  it  is  occupied  by  from 
60  to  70  pupils,  arranged  so  as  to  face  the  inner 
side  of  the  room.  There  are  two  teachers  in  the 
room — one  a  class  teacher  the  other  an  indi- 
vidual teacher.  Each  is  busy  and  undisturbed 
by  the  work  of  the  other.  The  class  teacher  is 
at  one  side  in  the  front  of  the  room  conducting 
a  class  exercise  with  division  one.  It  may  be  an 
exercise  devoted  to  the  development  of  some 
new  or  advanced  topic  of  the  subject  as  the 
metric  system.  The  entire  division  is  alert  and 
attentive,  and,  so  far  as  this  work  is  concerned, 
the  exercise  differs  in  no  respect  from  a  similar 
exercise  in  our  own  schools.  It  may  be,  how- 
ever, that  the  teacher  is  devoting  the  period  of 
the  class  exercise  to  a  recitation  by  the  pupils 
upon  some  topic  or  phase  of  the  subject  which 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  187 

has  already  been  developed  or  taught  in  some 
previous  class  period.  If  this  be  the  case,  we 
find  that  the  teacher  is  keeping  in  mind  the 
purpose  of  the  exercise  as  a  testing  exercise  to 
find  out  what  the  pupils  know  of  the  topic  and 
discover  those  who  do  not  know.  She  keeps 
this  purpose  of  testing  clearly  in  mind  and  does 
not  confuse  it  with  the  purpose  of  the  other  type 
of  class  exercise  mentioned  above,  which  is  de- 
voted to  the  development  of  a  new  topic,  and 
in  this  testing  exercise  the  teacher  does  little 
more  than  to  ask  questions,  as  the  recitation 
progresses.  We  note  that  she  has  close  at  hand 
a  pencil  and  paper.  If  a  pupil  rises  at  her  call 
to  recite  and  is  unable  to  give  a  satisfactory 
recitation,  or  says  he  does  not  know,  the  teacher 
makes  note  of  his  failure  on  the  paper  which 
she  has  at  hand  and  without  waiting  longer  and 
without  making  any  attempt  then  and  there 
to  develop  the  subject  for  the  benefit  of  this 
single  pupil  who  ]ias  failed,  without  keeping 
the  class  waiting  to  listen  to  the  ineffectual 


188  THE  B ATA VI A  SYSTEM 

attempts  of  a  child  who  knows  little  or  nothing 
of  the  topic  in  hand,  the  teacher  tells  the  pupil 
to  sit  and  passes  on  with  the  work,  calling  up 
another  pupil.  And  so  the  work  progresses 
during  the  entire  class  period,  without  break 
or  interruption.  At  the  clos'e  these  things  have 
been  accomplished:  Those  pupils  who  under- 
stand the  topic  have  had  an  opportunity  to 
recite  upon  it  and  thus  by  oral  statement  to 
fix  it  more  firmly  in  mind,  and  at  the  same  time 
gain  practice  in  oral  expression.  Those  pupils 
who  have  failed  have  been  noted  and  the  teacher 
is  prepared  to  report  to  her  colleague  the  names 
of  those  who  are  weak  in  the  subject  or  topic 
and  who  need  special  help  upon  it.  During  all 
this  time  the  pupils  of  division  two  are  profitably 
occupied  with  quiet  study  upon  the  subject 
which  the  school  programme  calls  for,  while 
the  second  or  individual  teacher  sits  in  the  front 
of  the  room  facing  this  division  at  a  table  at 
which  two  chairs  have  been  placed,  one  of  which 
she  occupies  and  the  other  of  which  is  occupied 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  189 

by  a  pupil  whom  she  has  called  out  for  indi- 
vidual instruction.  There  is  no  noise  in  this' 
end  of  the  room.  This  individual  instruction 
is  all  given  so  quietly  that  except  for  the  ocular 
evidence  one  would  not  suspect  that  such  a 
thing  is  going  on  in  the  room.  If  we  take  pains 
to  get  close  enough  to  see  and  hear  just  what 
this  individual  teacher  is  doing  we  find  that  in 
a  low,  pleasant,  sympathetic  tone  of  voice  she 
is  leading  the  pupil  to  help  himself  and  to  master 
his  dijfficulty  for  himself.  These  is  no  loudness 
or  harshness  of  tone,  there  is  no  impression  left 
upon  the  pupil  but  that  which  sympathetic 
helpfulness  from  the  teacher  and  his  own  mas- 
tery of  difficulty  will  leave,  and  he  goes  to  his 
seat  after  5,  10,  or  15  minutes  of  this  sort  of 
help  with  a  new  courage  and  hope,  a  feeling  of 
increased  mastery  and  power,  and  the  conviction 
that  if  he  will  help  himself  he  will  in  time  master 
all  the  obstacles  that  hinder  his  progress  and 
will  pass  on  with  his  classmates  at  the  close  of 
the  year's  work.     At  the  close  of  the  period  the 


190  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

two  teachers  exchange  divisions,  the  class  teach- 
er to  do  class  work  with  division  two,  and  the 
individual  teacher  to  do  individual  work  with 
division  one.  The  work  of  conducting  the  work 
in  the  room  with  but  a  single  teacher  does  not 
differ  materially  from  that  in  the  two-teacher 
room.  The  programme  must  be  so  arranged 
as  to  make  one  half  of  the  periods  in  a  subject 
as  arithmetic,  for  example,  class  periods  and 
one  half  individual  instruction  periods.  While 
the  individual  work  is  going  on  the  class  is 
occupied  in  profitable  study.  There  are  a  few 
of  our  schoolrooms  in  which  it  would  be  feasible 
to  so  arrange  the  work  that  two  teachers  might 
be  employed  in  them  without  adding  to  our 
present  teaching  force.  In  nearly  all  of  our 
rooms,  however,  one  teacher  only,  as  at  present, 
should  be  employed. 

In  the  high  school  where  the  departmental 
plan  of  work  is  in  operation,  as  it  is  in  our  high 
school,  the  periods  for  work  in  any  subject  with 
a  class  alternate,  one  being  devoted  to  class  in- 


INDIVIDUAL   TEACHING  191 

struction  or  class  recitation  and  the  next  day's 
period  to  individual  work  in  the  same  subject, 
while  the  class  as  a  whole  is  profitably  employed 
upon  written  drill  work  or  study  that  has  to  do 
with  the  subject  at  hand.  The  high  school 
programme  is  not  arranged  at  all  differently 
on  account  of  this  individual  instruction.  The 
question  naturally  arises,  What  do  the  Batavia 
teachers  think  of  this  plan  of  doing  school  work? 
In  no  case  did  inquiry  elicit  anything  but  a 
favorable  opinion  of  its  value  and  practicability. 
They  believe  in  it  and  they  will  tell  you  in  every 
room  that  they  plan  and  expect  that  at  the  end 
of  the  year  they  will  send  forward  their  grades 
in  unbroken  ranks,  and  that  the  only  pupils 
who  will  not  secure  promotion  will  be  in  those 
possible  cases  where  children  may  have  entered 
the  schools  so  late  in  the  summer  term  that  not 
enough  individual  instruction  can  be  given  to 
bring  them  up  to  the  grade.  From  what  I  was 
able  to  discover  from  a  careful  examination  of 
the  working  and  results,  and  from  what  I  have 


192  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

learned  of  its  working  in  places  where  it  has 
been  tried,  I  would  report  that  the  impression 
made  upon  my  own  mind  was  distinctly  favor- 
able. It  is  always  the  pupil  who,  because  of 
natural  slowness,  or  absence,  or  some  other 
cause,  has  failed  to  comprehend  and  so  has 
fallen  behind  his  class  who  is  carried  constantly 
in  the  mind  of  the  conscientious,  thoughtful 
teacher,  and  it  is  this  pupil  whom  such  a  teacher 
is  always  anxious  and  ready  to  work  for  and 
work  with  to  bring  about  improvement  and  ad- 
vancement. The  trouble  has  been  not  in  a 
lack  of  willingness  to  work  or  a  lack  of  anxiety 
for  better  things  on  the  part  of  the  teacher.  It 
has  lain  in  the  notion  that  the  time  and  place 
to  reach  the  individual  is  the  regular  class  reci- 
tation period  or  in  hours  other  than  regular 
school  hours,  i.  e.,  by  keeping  after  school.  Be- 
cause of  this  notion  teachers  have  striven  con- 
stantly to  bring  the  methods  of  the  recitation 
as  near  as  possible  to  perfection,  thinking  that 
excellent  teaching  and  recitation  methods  ought 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  193 

to  reach  a  much  greater  proportion  of  the  class, 
if  not  all.  They  have  also  been  ready  to  devote 
much  time  out  of  school  hours  to  such  pupils 
as  could  be  induced  to  come  for  individual  help 
and  instruction.  To  be  sure,  from  improved 
methods  of  presentation  and  recitation  we  can 
always  see  tangible  and  encouraging  results, 
but  with  the  best  of  teaching  skill  applied  only 
in  recitation  there  is  always  left  a  section  of  the 
class  which  is  not  reached,  and  which  as  a  result 
fails  in  promotion  at  the  end  of  the  year.  Indi- 
vidual instruction  given  out  of  school  hours  is 
also  fruitful  of  results,  but  is  open  to  the  serious 
objection  that  the  regular  school  hours  are  long 
enough  and  taxing  enough  for  both  teacher  and 
pupil  who  is  compelled  to  remain  after  school 
for  help  is  in  no  mood  to  receive  from  the  in- 
struction the  fullest  benefit.  He  feels  that  it 
is  an  unjustice  to  him  to  compel  him  to  stay  for 
longer  than  the  regular  hours,  so  the  number 
who  are  really  much  benefited  from  such  after- 
school  help  is  necessarily  limited,  almost  entirely. 


194  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

to  those  few  who  voluntarily  ask  for  such  help, 
the  fact  being  that  such  pupils  as  do  ask  for 
this  after-school  assistance  are  pretty  sure  to 
be  the  most  satisfactory  and  interested  pupils 
in  the  class,  who  need  help  the  least  of  any. 

In  other  words  teachers  have  over  magnified 
the  value  of  the  class  recitation  and  instruction 
exercise  in  reaching  the  individual  pupil.  The 
purpose  of  this  class  exercise  period  may  be  to 
instruct,  i.  e.,  to  teach.  It  may  be  to  test  and 
if  to  test  it  is  also  to  train  in  oral  expression. 
It  is  erroneous  and  wasteful  to  devote  any  large 
portion  of  the  class  period  to  an  effort  to  reach 
the  pupil  who  fails  or  is  behind  his  classmates. 
To  take  such  a  time  for  individual  teaching  is 
embarrassing  to  the  slow  pupil  and  decidedly 
uninteresting  and  wasteful  for  the  rest  of  the 
class  who  must  wait. 

I  have  already  shown  why  individual  instruc- 
tion after  school  hours  is  likely  to  be  unpro- 
fitable. 

In  the  working  of  the  Batavia  plan  there  is  no 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  195 

loss  of  class  time.  The  weak  pupil  is  definitely 
known  and  noted  together  with  his  particular 
weakness.  There  is  very  little,  if  any,  cause 
for  embarrassment  for  the  weak  pupil,  as  he  is 
not  made  to  stand  and  flounder  about  while 
the  teacher  attempts  to  give  him  individual 
instruction  in  the  presence  of 'the  idle,  waiting 
class.  Then  again,  under  this  plan,  no  weak 
pupil  is  neglected  or  is  able  to  escape  the  help 
of  the  teacher,  for  he  is  known,  his  weakness  is 
known,  and  he  is  given  quiet,  sympathetic, 
individual  help  during  the  regular  school  hours, 
not  being  expected  or  even  encouraged  to  re- 
main after  the  regular  school  hours. 

Home  study  for  pupils  of  elementary  grades 
is  practically  eliminated  by  this  plan.  When 
the  school  room  door  closes  at  noon  or  night 
the  children  of  these  grades  leave  their  school 
work  behind  them  as  they  should.  This  is  due 
to  the  fact  that  the  time  for  quiet,  intensive 
study  in  the  school  room  is  much  increased. 
This  alone  is  a  very  desirable  feature  of  the  plan. 


196  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

Under  prevailing  methods  of  management  in 
most  schools  there  is  too  much  of  bustle  and 
recitation  work  and  too  little  quiet  studious 
application  to  tasks.  This  has  arisen,  of  course, 
from  the  anxiety  on  the  teacher's  part  to  reach 
the  individual  (as  well  as  the  class)  and  the  idea 
that  has  possessed  her  mind  that  the  only  route 
to  any  goal  lay  through  the  teaching  and  recita- 
tion exercise. 

I  cannot  close  without  saying  a  word  with 
respect  to  one  of  the  most  noticeable  and  satis- 
factory results  of  the  plan,  its  moral  effect  on 
teacher  and  pupils.  It  would  perhaps  be  better 
to  say  little  rather  then  much  on  this  particular 
thing  and  so  leave  those  who  make  a  trial  of 
the  plan  to  find  this  out  for  themselves.  Its 
effect  is  sure  to  be  beneficial  in  lessening  the 
teacher's  feeling  of  strain  and  anxiety  because 
of  the  unsatisfactory  ones  in  her  class,  for  with 
this  plan  she  may  have  the  hope  of  helping  those 
who  so  much  need  help  and  instruction.  It 
puts  the  teacher,  too,  into  an  attitude  of  sympa- 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  197 

thy  and  appreciation  for  the  weak  or  slow  pupil. 
She  better  understands  him  and  his  need  after 
he  has  sat  beside  her  for  a  few  minutes  from 
day  to  day,  while  she  has  tried  to  develop  in 
him  greater  power  and  to  help  him  to  more  rapid 
progress.  It  also  places  the  pupil  who  needs 
help  in  an  equally  sympathetic  and  appreciative 
attitude  toward  his  teacher.  He  feels  now  that 
his  teacher  is  his  friend  and  not  his  task-master. 
As  one  teacher  expressed  herself  to  me:  ''This 
individual  work  makes  me  feel  altogether  dif- 
ferent toward  the  slow  boy  when  he  gets  up  to 
recite,  for  I  understand  him  better  and  he  under- 
stands me  better." 

It  relieves  pupils,  too,  from  their  all  too 
common  anxiety  about  the  possibility  of  pro- 
motion and  non-promotion  at  the  end  of  the 
school  year,  for  the  strong  pupil  does  more  and 
better  work  and  the  weak  pupil  has  the  hope  of 
having  the  obstacles  to  progress  removed  and 
of  emerging  from  his  present  condition  of  weak- 
ness. It  puts  courage  into  both  teacher  and 
pupil. 


198  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

I  might  mention  also  the  better  attitude 
which  it  causes  the  parent  to  assume  toward 
the  school  when  he  realizes  that  the  teacher  is 
actually  making  an  effort  to  do  for  his  child 
who  may  be  behind  in  any  subject  the  very 
thing  which  the  parent  would  himself  do  for 
his  child  in  giving  him  individual  help  provided 
the  parent  had  the  requisite  knowledge  of  school 
requirements,  the  necessary  teaching  skill  and 
the  time  to  devote  to  the  matter. 

I  have  not  mentioned  its  effect  upon  the  dis- 
cipline of  the  school.  The  good  order,  the  quiet 
atmosphere,  the  eagerness  and  cheerfulness  in 
attacking  and  performing  new  tasks  were  all 
marked  features  of  the  Batavia  schools,  resultant 
undoubtedly  from  this  system  of  individual 
instruction.  But  I  leave  the  mention  of  those 
things  to  my  colleagues  of  the  special  committee. 

I  have  but  one  recommendation  to  make — 
that  the  plan  be  given  a  fair  trial  in  our  schools. 
I  have  faith  to  believe  that  in  the  hands  of  a 
force  of  teachers  of  such  ability  and  teaching 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  199 

skill  as  our  own  the  plan  will  prove  itself  a 
success  and  will  win  loyal  and  enthusiastic  sup- 
port. There  is  need  of  it  in  every  grade  from 
the  first  through  the  high  school,  and  with  the 
sanction  of  the  school  board  and  a  fair  trial  in 
the  schools  there  is  every  reason  to  look  for 
excellent  results. 


Chapter  XXVI 

Development  of  the  Spirit  of  Work* 

.  The  Batavia  system  of  individual  instruction 
had  its  origin  in  a  very  common  occurrence — 
that  of  an  over-crowded  school.  To  relieve 
the  situation  the  superintendent  secured  the 
service  of  an  experienced  teacher  who  had  re- 
tired from  school  on  account  of  ill  health. 

It  was  arranged  that  all  pupils  who  were  slow, 
backward  or  for  any  reason  not  up  to  the  work 
of  the  grade,  should  be  sent  to  her  for  special 
help. 

As  days  and  weeks  went  by  she  became  par- 
ticularly interested  in  each  child,  his  progress, 
work  and  steadily  increasing  power  to  do  for 
himself. 

The  standard  of  the  whole  class  was  raised 
and  as  the  plan  became  a  success  in  that  room,- 


♦Miss  Reed's  Report  to  the  School  Board  of  Haverhill,  Mass. 
(200) 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  201 

the  superintendent  authorized  its  use  in  others 
where  the  numbers  were  sufficiently  large  to 
require  the  services  of  two  teachers. 

The  next  step  was  to  adapt  the  method  to 
classes  with  one  teacher,  and  the  following  plan 
was  devised. 

After  a  regular  class  recitation  another  lesson 
is  assigned  in  the  usual  manner  for  the  next 
day,  possibly  longer  than  under  the  old  plan. 
All  who  are  equal  to  the  work  study  by  them- 
selves during  the  period  while  the  teacher  is 
left  free  to  give  instruction  to  any  who  need  it. 

She  will  have  noted  already  in  the  previous 
class  exercise  who  these  are.  They  come  to 
her  desk  or  table,  and,  while  I  sat  by  giving  my 
close  attention,  I  did  not  hear  a  pupil  told  a 
single  word  or  point  until  it  was  actually  neces- 
sary— instead,  he  was  led  by  skilful  questioning 
through  the  difficulty  to  find  his  own  errors, 
thus  gaining  power  and  courage  for  the  next 
task. 

In  a  few  words  I  will  name  what,  in  my  judg- 


202  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

ment,  are  some  of  the  advantages  of  this  system. 

First.  It  is  individual  as  the  name  indicates^ 
The  teacher  knows  precisely  each  pupil's  dif- 
ficulty. It  may  be  a  small  one  in  her  opinion 
but  to  him  it  is  a  huge  obstacle — there  is  no 
progress  until  it  is  removed.  In  class  work  the 
ordinary  child  is  very  liable  to  feel  he  is  only 
one  of  many,  and  the  responsibility  of  following 
the  recitation  is  cast  upon  others — the  few  who 
are  always  ready.  He  may  not  actually  go 
through  this  process  of  reasoning  but  as  far  as 
his  knowledge  goes,  it  amounts  to  the  same 
thing.  When  he  sits  by  his  teacher  and  her 
attention  is  given  to  him  alone,  this  cannot 
be — ^there  can  be  no  reason  for  shirking  here. 

Second.  A  definite  and  regular  period  is 
arranged  for  this  assistance.  It  is  constant 
and  therefore  steadily  progressive. 

Third.  As  the  power  of  a  child  grows  he 
gains  confidence,  courage  and  a  willingness  to 
work.  I  never  saw  more  industrious  classes 
than  in  Batavia.     Very  little  of  the  spirit  of 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  203 

indifference  was  noticeable,  but  in  its  place  a 
readiness  to  persevere  until  the  work  was  ac- 
complished. 

I  desire  to  consider  two  of  the  objections  that 
have  been  brought  to  my  notice. 

It  is  said  these  pupils  will  become  dependent 
and  form  the  habit  of  relying  upon  others. 

I  do  not  think  so.  My  own  experience  is  that 
the  majority  of  children  are  interested  in  doing 
whatever  they  can  do  well. 

Their  progress  may  be  slow  and  laborious, 
but  guided  by  a  strong,  sympathetic  teacher, 
one  who  recognizes  individual  differences  and 
shows  pupils  how  to  study,  how  to  find  their 
own  errors  and  correct  them,  they  will  learn 
gradually  the  still  greater  and  more  important 
lesson  of  using  and  depending  upon  their  own 
abilities. 

In  one  sense,  children  are  not  by  nature  alto- 
gether dependent,  and  it  is  the  wise  parent  or 
teacher  who  does  not  allow  circumstances  or 
environment  to  weaken  the  faculty  of  inde- 
pendence. 


204       -     .       THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

It  has  also  further  been  said  that  the  so-called 
bright  pupils  are  neglected  and  suffer  from  this 
system.  I  do  not  feel  that  this  is  necessary. 
In  a  quiet  hour  of  study,  they  are  surely  made 
to  depend  more  upon  themselves,  which  is  the 
wisest  thing  that  can  be  done  for  them.  ' 

Plenty  of  work  is  always  provided,  and  an 
opportunity  is  given  to  each  one  to  move  on 
according  to  his  individual  ability.  If,  for  any 
reason,  they  need  special  attention,  the  fact 
will  soon  become  apparent. 

In  my  own  experience,  I  have  found  that 
brilliant  scholars  are  very  few,  and  I,  for  one, 
am  not  sorry,  for  I  believe  in  work,  work,  and 
the  vigor  and  strength  of  character  which  it 
alone  brings. 

I  realize  that  true  progress  in  most  cases  is 
achieved  by  patient,  plodding  labor — not  by 
leaps  and  bounds.  The  slow  pupils  must  be 
encouraged.  We  need  *them  in  school  and  in 
the  larger  world.  They  usually  become  reliable 
citizens  and  often  are  learers  in  successful,  hon- 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  205 

orable  business  enterprises.  For  these  reasons 
and  others  I  beHeve  absolutely  in  the  underlying 
principle  of  the  Batavia  system. 

Just  one  word  for  the  teachers  of  Haverhill. 
Many  of  us  have  already  been  trying  to  work 
along  this  line.  We  have  considered  the  matter 
again  and  again  and  have  ever  been  the  friend 
of  the  slow,  possibly  the  dull  pupil.  We  have 
done  everything  in  our  power  to  hold  him  in  the 
school,  endeavoring  not  to  allow  petty  troubles 
and  boyish  pranks  to  mar  our  view  of  the  future 
man  or  woman  who  sits  day  after  day  before 
us,  for  the  thoughtful  teacher  ever  keeps  her 
face  toward  the  future. 

It  seems  to  fne  two  things  at  least  may  be 
done. 

We  may  have  a  systematic  plan  and  a  regular 
time  for  individual  instruction',  without  which 
very  little  is  accomplished  in  any  line. 

We  already  have  the  interest  and  co-opera- 
tion of  our  superintendent. 


206  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

Now  we  desire  the  authority  and  support  of 
the  school  board. 
Shall  we  have  it? 

Respectfully  submitted, 

Mary  A.  Reid, 
Principal  of  Crowell  School. 


Chapter   XXVII 

Personal  Aid  under  Favorable  Conditions'^ 

The  ''Batavia  plan*'  has  b^en  widely  adver- 
tised, and  its  praise  sounded  in  such  glowing 
terms  that  it  has,  perhaps,  suffered  from  the 
friends  it  has  made.  We  are  always  suspicious 
of  a  "cure  all'  educationally  or  otherwise. 
When,  therefore,  it  became  my  duty  to  make  a 
personal  examination,  I  was  not  free  from  a 
feeling  of  distrust.  I  was  willing  to  see,  and 
expecting  to  see  good;  but  also  on  the  lookout 
for  its  weaknesses.  Visiting  25  or  more  school 
rooms,  many  of  them  more  than  once,  I  saw 
fairly  well  the  working  of  the  system,  and  came 
away  a  stronger  believer  in  it  than  when  I  went. 

As  you  already  know,  the  plan  of  teaching 
calls  for  an  equal  division  of  the  teacher's  time 
between  class  work  and  individual   teaching. 


♦Report  of    Principal    Gray   of    the    Winter    street    school, 
Haverhill,  Mass. 

(207) 


208  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

There  is  probably  no  teacher  in  Haverhill  who 
has  not  given  individual  instruction,  but  in 
Batavia  a  method  has  been  developed  by  which 
unusually  happy  results  are  attained.  Perhaps 
most  teachers  have  sometimes  given  help  to 
pupils  in  much  the  same  manner  in  which  it  is 
done  there,  but  it  has  been  the  unusual,  infre- 
quent thing.  Often  our  teachers  have  done 
this  work  after  the  regular  session,  a  time  when 
neither  pupil  not  teacher  is  in  the  best  condi- 
tion for  work.  Often  the  pupil  who  has  not 
recited  satisfactorily  is  kept  standing  while  the 
teacher  fires  volleys  of  explanation,  questions 
and  perhaps,  criticism,  excellent  in  themselves, 
but  with  their  effect  greatly  lessened  by  the  un- 
happy condition  of  the  pupil,  his  failure  empha- 
sized before  all  the  class  until  her  well-meant 
efforts  to  help  him  over  his  difficulties  are  largely 
a  failure. 

The  essence  of  the  Batavia  system  is  that 
personal  aid  is  given  under  the  most  favorable 
conditions  possible.     No  pupil  who  had  failed 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  209 

to  recite  satisfactorily  would  there  be  requil-ed 
to  stand  in  his  place  in  a  crowded  room,  while 
from  a  distance  his  teacher  explained,  questioned 
or  criticised  in  tones  that  none  could  fail  to  hear. 
Instead,  she  would  wait  until  the  period  for 
individual  instruction,  when,  having  provided 
work  for  the  class — study  or  written,  work — she 
would  quietly  call  the  pupil  to  her,  and,  speaking 
in  gentle  undertones,  help  him  with  his  difficulty. 
She  would  do  this  in  the  best  way,  telling  little, 
but  leading  the  pupil  to  see  for  himself.  The 
character  of  the  aid  given  is  a  matter  of  confi- 
dence between  the  pupil  and  the  teacher.  The 
others  have  their  work,  and  even  if  they  listened, 
they  would  be  able  to  hear  little  of  what  was  said. 
Thus,  while  the  pupil  reveals  his  difficulty  to 
his  teacher,  his  weakness  is  not  exposed  to  the 
possible  ridicule  of  his  fellow  pupils.  His 
teacher  gets  at  the  trouble  which  he  would,  per- 
haps, hesitate  to  confess  in  the  hearing  of  his 
class;  for  some  children  will  even  declare  that 
they  understand  rather  than  admit  that  they 


210  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

fail'to  comprehend  that  which  seems  to  present 
no  difficultues  to  others  of  their  class.  It  is  not 
children  alone  who  dislike  to  admit  to  a  multi- 
tude the  failure  to  see  the  point,  while  glad  to 
be  set  right  privately  by  a  friend. 

This,  then,  is  one  point  essential  to  the  success 
of  the  system  under  consideration;  there  must 
be  a  large  degree  of  privacy.  The  teacher  helps 
the  pupil  without  scorching  him  with  public 
criticism,  open  or  implied,  thus  making  him  the 
possible  butt  of  his  fellows.  Another  thing  and 
very  important — she  has  not  only  realized  the 
value  of  a  gentle  voice,  that  most  * 'excellent 
thing  in  woman" — she  has  kept  in  mind  that 
physically  the  pupil  must  be  comfortable  and  at 
ease  if  he  is  to  do  his  best,  and  so  a  table  has 
been  provided  and  a  chair.  There  is  room  for 
the  awkward  boy  to  bestow  his  long  legs,  and 
the  table  is  broad  enough  to  permit  him  to  get 
his  arms  comfortable  upon  it,  if  there  is  work 
to  be  done  with  pencil  and  paper.  These  are 
not  trivial  matters,  unworthy  of  consideration. 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  211 

Every  teacher  has  seen  pupils  who  suffered 
torture  through  consciousness  of  their  awkward 
bodies,  and  it  is  folly  to  expect  that  under  such 
conditions  they  will  do  their  best  thinking. 

By  means  of  this  plan  of  conducting  school 
work,  it  is  very  evident  that  much  more  cordial 
relations  are  likely  to  exist  between  pupil  and 
teacher.  We  get  nearer  to  a  person  by  con- 
versing with  him  than  by  hearing  him  lecture. 
The  children  are  helped  over  the  hard  places 
and,  understanding  their  work,  enjoy  it.  With 
children,  as  with  grown  people,  the  thing  that 
is  understood  is  liked.  No  one  goes  far  in  any- 
thing that  he  does  not  enjoy  doing.  It  is  easier 
to  depress  and  disgust  human  nature  than  to 
inspire  it.  We  want  the  rewards  of  self-respect, 
the  sense  of  victory  achieved,  the  feeling  of 
getting  ahead.  The  teacher  who  gives  indi- 
vidual instruction  in  the  best  way  makes  these 
things  possible. 

I  do  not  claim  that  this  method  lightens  the 
teacher's  labors.     It  makes  them  more  effective, 


212  THE  BAT  AVI  A  SYSTEM 

and  thus  removes  the  most  discouraging  thing 
that  any  teacher  has  to  contend  with — the 
feeHng  that  she  is  not  accompHshing  what  she 
knows  she  ought. 

I  ought  not  to  close  without  mentioning  what 
after  all  is  the  most  attractive,  and,  I  believe, 
most  important  result  of  the  method,  though  not 
the  one  usually  made  most  prominent  by  those 
who  advocate  it.  This  is  its  moral  effect,  its 
value  in  character  shaping.  If  it  had  no  other 
value  its  use  would  be  justified  by  this  alone. 


Chapter   XXVIII 

As  seen  in  Canada* 

My  attention  was  first  drawn  to  the  schools 
of  Batavia,  New  York,  some  ten  or  twelve  years 
ago,  when  two  pupils  from  that  city  presented 
themselves  for  enrolment  in  my  school.  I  soon 
discovered  in  them  a  power  for  work  and  an 
independence  of  thought  that  was  somewhat 
unusual.  On  making  inquiries  I  learned  some- 
thing of  what  is  known  as  the  Batavian  System, 
and  ever  since  that  time  I  have  had  a  desire  to 
investigate  the  system,  and  see  it  in  actual 
operation. 

An  opportunity  to  gratify  this  desire  was 
afforded  me  in  October,  1912.  I  received  a 
very  cordial  welcome  from  the  City  Superin- 
tendent, Mr.  John  Kennedy,  and  the  Principal 
of  the  High  School,  Mr.  E.  A.  Ladd,  and  his 


♦Report   of    Dr.   J.   A.    Houston,   Inspector  of  high    schools 
Province  of  Ontario  to  the  Minister  of  Education. 

(213) 


214  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

staff  of  teachers,  and  was  given  every  oppor- 
tunity of  seeing  how  their  work  was  carried  on. 
I  visited  the  primary  classes  in  the  elementary 
schools,  the  higher  classes  in  the  grammar  grade 
(corresponding  to  our  junior  and  senior  fourth), 
and  the  classes  in  the  High  School,  observed 
the  work  of  the  teachers  both  with  the  class 
and  with  the  individual  pupil,  examined  the 
records  of  the  pupils,  and  questioned  many  of 
the  teachers  as  to  their  methods  of  dealing  with 
the  difficulties  which  must  necessarily  present 
themselves  in  a  High  School  of  over  four  hun- 
dred pupils.  I  wish  to  place  on  record  here  my 
appreciation  of  the  many  courtesies  received 
from  the  Superintendent,  teachers,  and  pupils 
during  my  investigation. 

The  plan  now  adopted  in  the  schools  of  Bata- 
via  had  its  genesis  in  an  overcrowded  room  of 
some  sixty  pupils,  for  whom  there  was  no  room 
elsewhere.  To  relieve  the  congestion,  a  some- 
what novel  scheme  was  proposed,  namely,  to 
put  in  the  room  another  teacher  whose  time 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  215 

should  be  given  to  those  pupils  who  were  found 
to  be  lagging  behind  their  fellows.  Her  especial 
duty  was  to  deal  with  the  backward  pupil,  and 
give  him  an  opportunity  to  make  something  of 
himself.  The  teacher  selected  to  carry  out  this 
experiment  was  one  gifted  with  a  rare  personality 
and  superior  teaching  power,  and  to  say  that 
the  experiment  proved  a  success  would  be  to 
put  it  very  mildly.  The  dull  pupil  disappeared ; 
the  atmosphere  of  the  room  changed;  the  spirit 
of  work  prevailed;  there  were  no  longer  bright 
pupils  with  nothing  to  do  and  slow  pupils  who 
could  do  nothing.  The  plan  was  extended  to 
other  overcrowded  rooms  with  equal  success. 
Then  came  the  question,  was  this  change 
for  the  better  to  be  attributed  to  the  presence 
of  two  teachers  in  a  room,  or  to  the  combination 
of  individual  and  class  instruction?  A  further 
experiment  was  tried  in  one-teacher  rooms, 
with  normal  sized  classes.  This  was  to  devote 
to  class  instruction  one  half  the  time  appor- 
tioned to  any  subject,  and  give  the  other  half 


216  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

to  individual  work  with  pupils  who  required  it. 
This  experiment  proved  such  a  decided  success 
that  the  plan  has  been  carried  on  for  some 
twelve  years  or  more,  and  no  teacher  in  Batavia 
today  would  desire  for  one  moment  to  revert 
to  the  old  order  of  things. 

I  can  best  give  the  fundamental  idea  under- 
lying the  Batavia  plan  by  quoting  from  a  report 
made  by  Superintendent  Kennedy.  He  says: 
''All  normal  children  are  susceptible  of  educa- 
tion if  they  are  dealt  with  in  accordance  with 
their  natures.  Our  plan  of  supplementary  indi- 
vidual teaching  enables  us  to  reach  the  indi- 
vidual needs  of  children,  and  to  put  them  in  the 
way  of  maintaining  themselves  in  a  graded 
system.  The  graded  system  is,  in  my  opinion, 
a  powerful,  even  a  necessary  instrumentality 
in  the  education  of  the  vast  majority  of  children. 
It  is  the  visible  ladder  by  which  the  children 
climb  to  success.  The  motives  of  children 
must  be  immediate  and  concrete,  and  when  this 
concrete  progress  is  inspired  by  interest  and  the 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  217 

sense  of  achievement,  success  is  assured.  It  is 
because  children  are  neither  alike  nor  equal 
that  they  have  to  be  attended  to' individually. 
Their  individuality  is  their  most  precious  pos- 
session, and  that  individuality,  individual  at- 
tention tends  to  conserve.  It  is  not  their 
inferiority  but  their  individuality  which  makes 
them  nonresponsive  and  obstructive." 

The  scheme  of  class-individual  instruction  in 
Batavia  is  carried  out  in  two  different  ways. 

(1)  In  certain  overcrowded  rooms  two  teach- 
ers are  employed,  one  in  class  instruction,  the 
other  in  individual  work.  This  method  is  used 
in  only  a  few  of  the  lower  grades  of  the  elemen- 
tary schools.  I  saw  this  plan  in  operation,  and 
there  was  not  the  slightest  sign  of  confusion. 
Every  one  seemed  happy  and  contented,  and 
I  was  assured  by  the  teachers  that  the  progress 
of  the  pupils  was  all  that  could  be  desired. 

(2)  In  all  the  classes  of  the  elementary  schools, 
which  are  not  overcrowded,  and  in  all  the  classes 
of  the  High  School,  the  teacher  devotes  to  class 


218  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

work  one  half  the  time  assigned  to  any  subject, 
and  the  other  half  to  individual  work.  As 
Superintendent  Kennedy  points  out:  "This 
phase  of  the  plan  permits  its  extension  and  use 
under  all  conditions.  It  has  furnished  the 
solution  for  the  problem  of  individualizing  the 
High  School." 

In  addition  to  this  plan  of  dividing  the  class 
time,  the  courses  of  study  and  the  time-table, 
in  the  High  School,  are  so  arranged  that  every 
pupil  has  about  one  third  of  his  time  in  school 
to  devote  to  quiet  study  and  work  by  himself, 
either  in  the  general  study  room,  or  in  the  class- 
room where  individual  work  is  going  on. 

The  three  elements  which  go  to  make  up  the 
Batavia  plan  then  are: 

(1)  Class  instruction  in  the  lesson  as  a  whole, 
combined  with  the  recitation  and  tests  necessary 
to  ascertain  whether  the  pupil  is  doing  his  work, 
is  gaining  the  desired  knowledge,  and  is  mas- 
tering the  subjects  assigned  for  study. 

(2)  Individual  attention,  given  when  requir- 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  219 

ed,  to  gain  the  confidence  and  learn  the  disposi- 
tion of  the  pupil;  to  discover  his  difficulties;  to 
give  him  judicious  help  by  encouragement, 
questions,  or  suggestions;  to  put  him  in  the  way 
of  helping  himself. 

(3)  Regular  periods  for  study,  to  give  the 
pupil  a  chance  to  find  himself,  to  gain  self- 
reliance,  independence,  self -initiative,  and  to 
experience  the  joy  of  achievement. 

Any  plan  or  system  of  education  may  be 
judged  in  two  ways:  (1)  by  considering  its  theo- 
retic merits  and  its  inherent  excellencies  as 
tested  by  its  agreement  with  correct  pedagogic 
principles,  and  (2)  by  ascertaining  the  results 
which  have  followed  its  use  for  a  reasonable 
length  of  time  amongst  those  for  whom  it  was 
intended. 

Examined  from  the  first  of  these  view-points, 
the  Batavia  plan  will  stand  the  test. 

(1)  It  combines  the  advantages  of  the  graded 
or  organized  school,  with  those  of  the  unorgan- 
ized school  of  former  days. 


220  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

(2)  It  provides  for  the  class  instruction  which 
is  necessary  to  economize  time  and  conserve  the 
energy  of  the  teacher  in  presenting  his  subject. 

(3)  It  offers  the  stimulus  and  emulation  of 
numbers  working  together  for  a  common  pur- 
pose, than  which  there  is  no  more  powerful  in- 
fluence in  an  average  class. 

(4)  It  recognizes  the  fact  that  there  is  no 
uniformity  in  the  nature  of  children,  and  that 
individual  needs  can  be  satisfied  only  by  indi- 
vidual attention. 

(5)  It  enables  the  teacher  to  study  the  per- 
sonality of  each  pupil  and  to  accomodate  his 
instruction  to  each  one's  peculiar  requirements. 

When  considered  from  the  second  of  the  view- 
points already  mentioned,  the  results  shown  in 
the  Batavia  schools,  where  the  system  has  been 
in  force  for  some  twelve  or  fourteen  years,  are 
most  satisfactory. 

(1)  It  has  the  effect  of  retaining  the  pupils 
in  the  schools.  Out  of  a  total  school  attendance 
of  1,800,  I  found  over  400  in  the  High  School, 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  221 

boys  and  girls  being  about  equal  in  numbers. 
In  the  graduating  class  of  June,  1911,  there  were 
19  boys  out  of  a  total  32. 

(2)  It  has  practically  eliminated  failures  in 
examinations.  I  examined  the  official  reports 
from  the  Board  of  Regents  at  Albany  on  the 
results  of  their  examinations  in  the  Batavia 
High  School,  and  found  that  the  failures  were 
less  than  one  per  cent. 

(3)  It  has  done  away  with  the  question  of 
discipline,  by  removing  the  usual  cause  of  the 
restlessness  of  a  large  proportion  of  the  class, 
who  are  frequently  left  unoccupied,  while  the 
teacher  explains  to  a  few,  perhaps  to  one  pupil, 
a  matter  already  thoroughly  understood  by 
the  others. 

(4)  It  has  introduced  a  spirit  of  earnestness 
and  interest  which  was  manifest  in  every  form 
in  the  school;  every  one  seemed  to  feel  that  his 
ultimate  success  was  a  reasonable  certainly. 

(5)  It  has  produced  a  class  of  independent 
and    self-reliant   pupils   who    appear   to   have 


222  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

confidence  in  themselves  and  their  powers,  who 
have  the  spirit  of  work  and  the  power  to  w^ork. 

(6)  It  has  done  away  with  the  flow,  unre- 
sponsive pupil  who  keeps  the  class  back,  by 
giving  the  assistance  necessary  to  enable  him 
to  solve  the  personal  equations  whose  unknowns 
were  his  latent  energy  and  his  confidence  in 
himself. 

In  my  report  to  the  Minister  on  the  condition 
of  the  High  Schools  under  my  supervision,  I 
referred  briefly  to  the  wisdom  of  introducing 
into  our  system  of  teaching  more  study  periods 
for  the  pupil  and  more  attention  to  his  indi- 
vidual needs.  The  adoption  of  some  scheme 
along  the  line  indicated  in  the  preceding  pages, 
with  such  modifications  as  would  make  it  suit 
the  different  conditions  in  our  schools,  would, 
I  am  convinced,  be  of  very  great  advantage. 
The  serious  defect  of  our  present  system  is  its 
want  of  elasticity;  it  is  too  machine-like  in  its 
operation;  it  makes  provision  for  the  classes, 
it  fails  to  make  provision,  except  incidentally, 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  223 

for  individual  needs.  The  remedy  appears 
to  be  what  the  Batavia  plan  provides,  "organized 
individual  instruction  as  the  supplement  and 
corrective  of  class  instruction.*' 


Chapter  XXIX 

What  to  do  with  the  Laggard* 

What  to  do  with  the  laggard  in  schools  is  a 
question  pressing  for  an  answer  throughout  the 
civilized  world.  Compulsory  attendance  and 
the  exceedingly  close  organization  of  schools 
have  made  the  laggard  problem  decidedly  acute. 

When  attendance  was  voluntary  and  when 
schools  were  loose  aggregations  instead  of 
organizations,  the  laggard  could  be  ignored. 
If  he  sagged,  he  did  not  drag  anybody  else  down. 
He  just  sagged  down  alone.  When  the  school 
became  insufferably  tedious  to  him  he  just 
eliminated  himself,  and  found  congenial  employ- 
ment in  the  busy  world,  where  his  teeming  energy 
and  luminous  intelligence  found  "ample  room 
and  verge  enough."  He  went  forth  to  be  a 
great  provider,  a  model  husband,  and   father, 


♦From  an  address  to  the  New  York  State  Holiday  Confer- 
ence of  High  School  Principals. 

(224) 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  225 

a  sterling  citizen  and  a  pillar  of  the  state  accord- 
ing to  his  lights.  The  only  drawback  in  his 
case  was  that  his  light  was  not  sufficient  to 
enable  him  to  see  all  the  dangers  of  the  state. 
He  was  exposed  to  be  the  dupe  of  those  who 
were  only  too  willing  to  do  his  seeing  for  him. 

The  laggard  cannot  eliminate  himself  now. 
If  he  tries  to  do  so  he  encounters  a  truant  officer 
who  runs  him  back  in  again.  The  laggard  now 
encounters  not  only  the  tediousness  of  the 
school,  but  also  its  pinch.  And  a  lad  that  has 
been  pinched  in  school  is  not  an  assured  triumph 
in  civil  life.  We  read  in  Scripture  of  a  person 
whose  last  stage  was  worse  than  his  first. 

I  have  some  tributes  to  pay  to  non-organiza- 
tion. It  started  many  a  great  man  on  the  way 
to  fame  and  fortune.  It  opened  an  unobstruct- 
ed course  to  those  rare  ones  who  could  run  alone, 
and  who  could  maintain  themselves  without 
resting  brakes,  while  ascending  the  hill  of 
knowledge.  The  unorganized  school  never 
made  any  business  for  the  doctor,  nor  for  the 
undertaker,  nor  for  the  constable. 


226  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

On  the  other  hand  the  unorganized  school 
let  its  laggards  escape;  and  it  discouraged  all 
the  rest  of  the  children  by  giving  them  the  task 
of  Sisyphus;  rolling  the  same  old  stone  up  the 
same  old  hill  and  ever  finding  it  at  the  bottom 
again.  The  unorganized  school  was  weighed 
in  the  balance  and  was  found  wanting.  It  has  . 
been  retired.  I  am  glad  to  say  that  it  has 
passed.  It  has  been  passing  into  history,  not 
without  many  claims  to  respect.  But  it  will 
never  return.     It  should  never  return. 

I  have  hinted  that  organization  has  dire 
possibilities;  and  I  am  not  through  with  them 
yet;  there  is  still  to  be  considered  the  tragedy 
of  retardation.  But  the  prevention  of  these 
evils  does  not  lie,  in  my  opinion,  in  putting  the 
clock  of  time  back  fifty  years.  The  great 
nineteenth  century  recognized  the  evils  of  non- 
organization ;  it  grappled  boldly  with  chaos; 
and  it  has  left  us  a  marvelous  monument  of 
itself  in  a  most  magnificently  organized  school 
system.     It   is   for   the   twentieth   century   to 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  227 

conserve  and  preserve  that  school  system;  to 
rectify  and  perfect  it;  to  take  every  pinch  out 
of  it;  to  make  everybody  safe,  happy,  and  suc- 
cessful who  has  anything  to  do  with  it. 

Under  the  new  order  the  laggard  is  decidedly 
in  evidence.  And  he  is  most  painfully  aware 
of  it.  If  he  sags  all  the  rest  of  the  pupils  are 
retarded;  and  they  become  great  sufferers, — 
educationally,  intellectually,  morally,  and  even 
physically.  The  protests  against  retardation 
are  loud;  and  justly  so.  The  devices  for  the 
relief  of  retardation  are  at  least  interesting, 
even  if  they  are  not  always  wise,  just,  and  sound. 
Some  are  saying  that  a  crowd  is  preposterous, 
and  that  the  quick  individual  needs  to  be  dis- 
engaged. If  he  needs  to  be  disengaged  the  slow 
individual  needs  it  more  imperatively;  and 
therefore  organization  is  a  failure;  we  have 
simply  snared  our  children.  This  is  indeed 
plausible;  for  we  have  snared  many  children. 
But  I  hope  to  show  that  we  have  no  right  and 
no  occasion  to  make  a  snare  of  organization. 


228  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

But  let  us  keep  to  the  laggard  av/hile.  When 
the  laggard  sags  now,  he  does  not  sag  away 
from  the  teacher;  he  sags  right  onto  her.  He 
gets  on  to  her  nerve.  He  breaks  down  her 
geniality;  he  breaks  down  her  composure;  he 
breaks  down  her  teaching. 

There  can  be  tragedy  in  schools  if  organiza- 
tion is  not  controlled  to  beneficent  ends.  Then 
why  take  the  chances  on  organization?  Be- 
cause without  organization  education  is  spirit- 
less and  unproductive.  Organization  is  Samson 
in  the  full  growth  of  his  locks.  Organization 
is  the  Archimedean  lever  that  can  uplift  the 
world. 

No,  we  will  not  go  back.  The  pathway  of 
education  is  now  surveyed  and  staked  off. 
Every  child  can  see  the  stakes  leading  to  a 
definite  goal.  He  fights  for  his  stake  before  he 
fights  for  the  ideal.  And  the  stakes  make  the 
ideal  attainable.  The  primary  child  sees  the 
stakes  extending  into  and  through  the  university. 

The  teacher  now  has  a  definite  and  sharply 


INDIVIDUAL   TEACHING  229 

defined  task,  instead  of  a  vague  one.  The 
principle  of  the  division  of  labor  has  been  made 
the  key  to  an  aggregate  momentum.  Waste 
has  been  reduced  to  a  minimum,  if  it  has  not 
been  entirely  eliminated.  All  the  conditions 
of  success  have  been  contrived;  and  success  is 
the  mandate  placed  upon  the  management  in 
charge. 

But  here  comes  in  the  laggard.  Organiza- 
tion may  propose;  but  the  laggard  disposes. 
The  laggard  commands  the  situation.  Till  he 
budges  nothing  can  budge.  The  machine  is 
clogged.  The  sickle,  to  change  the  figure,  will 
not  work;  the  reaper  kills  its  horses  in  merely 
mutilating  and  ruining  every  spear  of  grain  that 
it  reaches. 

The  immediate  cause  is  the  laggard;  he  is  the 
clog.  If  the  laggard  blocks  the  game,  then  why 
not  get  rid  of  the  laggard?  I  think  I  see  several 
potent  reasons  why  not.  One  very  important 
reason  is  that  it  can't  be  done. 

You  cannot  put  the  laggard  out  of  school; 


230  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

for  the  law  will  not  let  you  do  so.  And  here  I 
bow  to  the  wisdom  of  the  law,  as  well  as  to  its 
majesty.  Nor  can  you  always  kill  the  laggard; 
we  have  all  seen  laggards  who  have  become 
persecution  proof.. 

Then  why  not  demote  him?  For  two  good 
reasons:  First,  he  will  sag  the  lower  class,  besides 
disgusting  them  with  his  huge  presence;  and  in 
the  second  place,  you  will  find  new  laggards 
doing  his  work  in  the  grade  from  which  he  has 
been  removed.  It  is  a  case  of  cutting  off  the 
head  of  the  hydra  only  to  breed  two.  The  same 
would  be  true  if  you  relegated  him  to  a  dunce 
class  or  ''ran  him  in"  with  incorrigibles  for 
merely  being  unfortunate.  If  you  can  bring 
yourself  to  do  that  thing,  and  if  he  and  his 
parents  would  submit  to  it,  you  only  provide 
for  his  successor. 

I  have  never  known  a  child  who  did  not  find 
his  highest  happiness  in  conquering  a  difficulty. 
And  I  have  never  known  a  child  who  has  con- 
quered  a   difficulty  who   did   not   want   other 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  231 

difficulties  to  conquer.  They  are  all  Alexanders ; 
the  taste  of  conquest  inspires  in  them  the  lust 
of  conquest.  Education  is  a  state  of  mind  and 
character;  the  child  is  educated  who  has  learned 
to  do  creditable  things,  and  who  is  on  the  alert 
for  creditable  things  to  do. 

''A  still  strong  man  in  a  blatant  land,"  he 
"stands  four-square  to  every  wind  that  blows." 
The  world  needs  such  men,  and  the  school  that 
gives  such  men  is  one  of  the  greatest  blessings 
in  the  world.  The  good  teacher  will  invite 
his  pupils  forth  to  manly  exercises  that  lead  to 
noble  manhood.  It  is  not  in  the  halls  of  legis- 
lation that  we  must  fight  the  grafter  and  the 
corruptionist.  It  is  in  the  school  room  that 
the  rights,  the  liberties,  the  dignity  of  men  are 
to  be  conserved.  ''Let  me  write  the  songs  of 
the  people  I  care  not  who  makes  their  laws." 
Let  me  write  noble  sentiments  on  the  heart  of 
an  unspoiled  child  and  in  time  he  will  route  out 
every  nest  of  thieves  in  the  land.  And  in  time 
he  will  disturb  the  nightly  repose  of  the  would- 
be  Caesar. 


232  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

I  have  said  and  perhaps  I  have  shown,  that 
you  cannot  ehminate  the  laggard;  he  is  Hke  the 
poor,  he  is  always  with  you.  You  cannot 
eliminate  the  laggard  if  you  would.  I  now  as- 
sert that  you  should  not  eliminate  him  if  you 
could.  The  laggard  is  a  perpetual  guarantee 
of  strong  teaching  in  the  school.  You  cannot 
budge  the  laggard  except  by  strong  teaching. 
But  strong  teaching  will  do  it;  not  by  adapting 
the  course  of  studies  to  his  inertia :  but  by  adapt- 
ing the  teaching  to  him.  He  must  be  reached 
individually.  Wholesale  processes  have  wreck- 
ed themselves  on  him  in  vain.  Not  that  whole- 
sale processes  must  be  discontinued,  for  whole- 
sale processes  are  the  very  life  of  schools.  If 
the  individual  is  safeguarded  the  general  crowd 
becomes  a  powerful  educational  stimulus,  the 
mighty  uplift  of  education. 

The  laggard  must  be  studied;  and  that  is 
child-study  of  a  most  vital  kind.  His  case  must 
be  diagnosed  in  order  that  it  may  be  treated. 
His  case  is  largely  his  own;  and  he  cannot  with 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  233 

safety  be  bunched  into  a  class.  The  laggard 
must  be  encouraged,  not  depressed;  he  must 
be  trained  to  acquisition;  he  must  be  caused  to 
find  himself,  to  get  acquainted  with  himself; 
he  must  be  led  to  feel  that  his  mission  is  not  to 
throw  up  the  sponge,  but  to  challenge  the  whole 
crowd. 

The  laggard  is  a  perpetual  guarantee  of  great 
teaching  in  the  schools;  not  merely  because 
great  teaching  is  needful  to  reach  him,  and 
through  him  to  reach  all;  but  because  he  can 
make  the  teaching  great.  The  laggard  is  an 
educationist  in  the  school,  instructing  and 
training  the  teachers.  His  lectures  always 
ring  true;  they  never  fail  to  edify;  and  the  teach- 
er who  has  sat  at  his  feet  and  been  trained  by 
him  becomes  a  pedagogical  giant. 

And  as  the  laggard  is  omnipresent  he  guards 
every  point  of  our  school  system.  Education 
may  start  ofE  on  excursions,  in  quest  of  prim- 
rose paths;  but  the  laggard  will  continue  to 
call  back  the  Arnolds  of  Rugby,  the  Mark  Hop- 


234  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

kinses,  the  Martin  B.  Andersons,  and  the  James 
McCoshes,  to  put  ingenuous  youth  on  their 
feet  and  point  them  to  the  utmost  heights  of 
attainment.  And  they  are  all  ingenuous  youth. 
Their  blood  is  not  only  blue,  but  it  is  purple; 
they  are  not  merely  of  the  nobility;  they  are 
princelings  of  the  imperial  household.  They 
are  heirs  to  a  sovereignty  greater  than  that  of 
the  Romanoffs,  greater  than  that  of  the  Caesars. 

The  laggard  in  the  organized  school  is  a 
perpetual  guarantee  that  the  liberty  and  equal- 
ity fought  for  by  the  demigods  of  Marathon 
and  Bunker  Hill,  shall  not  pass  from  men;  for 
when  he  goes  to  the  front  they  all  go  there ;  and 
they  all  come  into  their  own. 

Much  has  been  said  about  the  levelling  pro- 
cess ;  there  never  came  a  better  process  into  this 
world,  if  the  levelling  is  done  in  the  right  direc- 
tion; if  the  levelling  is  upward. 

But  can  this  be  done?  It  has  been  done  for 
six  hundred  years  in  the  schools  that  have  given 
William  of  Wykeham   and  Arnold   of    Rugby 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  235 

their  fame.  Where  has  there  ever  been  a  more 
closely  organized  school  system?  And  where 
has  there  ever  been  a  severer  course  of  studies? 
Young  lads  demonstrating  Euclid,  construing 
Livy,  and  interpreting  Aristotle  almost  before 
reaching  their  teens.  And  it  has  been  a  case 
of  compulsory  education;  for,  though  it  has  not 
had  the  compulsion  of  law,  it  has  had  the  com- 
pulsion of  custom  and  parental  authority.  Who 
will  say  that  those  schools  never  encountered  a 
laggard?  Yet  who  can  can  say  that  those 
schools  ever  had  a  left-over?  The  lad  who 
enters  Winchester,  or  Eton,  or  Westminister, 
or  Rugby,  or  Harrow,  might  as  well  fail  in 
battle  as  to  fail  to  get  into  and  through  Oxford 
and  Cambridge. 

Those  schools  made  the  English  democracy 
and  the  American  democracy.  That  is  not  what 
they  were  started  for;  they  did  that  incidentally, 
perhaps  accidentally:  the  remarkable  case  of  an 
aristocracy  planting  democracy  in  the  world. 
It  was  in  those  schools  that  Eliot  and  Hampden 


236  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

and  Sydney  dreamed  their  dreams  of  human 
rights.  It  was  in  those  schools  that  the  battles 
of  Marston  Moor  and  Naseby  were  won;  it 
was  in  those  schools  that  the  British  Empire 
was  won.  It  was  in  schools  descending  from 
them  and  formed  on  their  model  that  the  Ameri- 
can Republic  was  created,  and  its  constitution 
written.  It  was  those  daughter  schools  that 
gave  to  history  the  names  of  Shiloh,  Gettsyburg, 
and  Appomattox. 

I  do  not  find  that  those  schools  ever  under- 
took to  explain  anything  away.  They  just 
stripped  to  their  work  and  won  out  by  sheer 
good  fighting. 

And  what  a  race  of  idealists  they  have  given 
to  the  world.  Honor  and  fame  everything; 
dollars  nothing.  You  must  strive  for  West- 
minister Abbey.  You  must  attain  if  possible 
that  "grand  old  name  of  gentleman."  And 
you  must  carry  the  rules  of  chivalry  into  modern 
conditions.  A  lie,  a  deception,  a  craven  act, 
would  turn  your  picture  to  the   wall.     Shield 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  237 

the  female  and  the  helpless;  punish  him  that 
molests  you;  but  let  your  fight  be  ever  fair; 
never  use  a  ruffian's  strategy  nor  touch  a  ruf- 
fian's weapon;  never  strike  below  the  belt;  and 
remember  that  when  your  man  is  down  he  is  in 
a  sanctuary  as  sacr.ed  as  a  Greek  temple  or  a 
medieval  cathedral.    • 

Perhaps  such  ideals  are  obsolete.  There  are 
those  however  who  would  shudder  to  concede 
it.  But  you  cannot  sweep  such  ideals  away  as 
long  as  the  world  has  laggards,  and  so  long  as 
the  law  treats  the  laggard  as  a  ''man  and  a 
brother,"  by  running  him  into  your  schools. 
He  is  the  leaven  that  will  leaven  the  whole  lump. 

''The  stone  which  the  builders  rejected  has 
become  the  headstone  of  the  corner."  I  be- 
lieve in  the  laggard;  and  I  like  the  teacher  who 
believes  in  the  laggard.  I  like  the  teacher  who 
expects  to  get  every  one  of  her  pupils  through 
their  grade.  And  if  she  expects  to  do  so,  she 
will  do  so,  unless  some  unforeseen  circumstance 
shall  arise.     I  like  to  see  a  town  building  school 


238  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

houses  to  accomodate  its  upper  grades.  I  like 
to  see  a  tidal  wave  of  youth  sweeping  into  the 
high  schools  and  finding  the  traditional  gulf 
nothing  but  an  imaginary  line.  I  like  to  see 
the  laggard  of  the  third  grade  carrying  off  the 
honors  in  algebra  and  Latin  in  the  high  school. 
I  like  to  see  him  going  to  college  and  picking 
there  the  choicest  cherry  from  the  topmost  twig. 

But  will  not  these  apparent  miracles  kill  the 
teacher?  Did  it  kill  Antaeus  to  touch  his 
mother  earth?  The  loveliness  of  character  which 
the  rescued  laggard  gives  to  his  rescuer  is  equal- 
ed only  by  the  physical  vigor  which  her  great 
service  confers  upon  herself.  I  know  nothing 
more  sanitary  than  good  teaching;  nothing  more 
conducive  to  longevity. 

But  how  may  the  laggard  be  won?  By  just 
asking  him  a  question  that  cannot  be  answered 
by  yes  or  no;  and  by  just  keeping  on  asking 
questions  till  the  'giant  arouses  from  his  sleep 
and  begins  to  shake  his  puissant  locks;' — until 
his  face   begins   to   beam  with   intelligence; — 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  239 

until  his  lip  begins  to  curl  with  amused  scorn 
at  the  mole  hills  that  he  had  supposed  were 
mountains. 

E  plurihus  unum  is  the  motto  of  our  republic. 
E  plurihus  unum  is  the  maxim  of  a  good  school: 
one  mass  moving  with  effective  momentum 
because  its  several  units  are  in  superb  condition. 

I  have  treated  the  lagging  as  an  involuntary 
thing,  and  therefore  a  misfortune.  That  is 
what  it  is  almost  exclusively  in  the  grades.  In 
the  High  School  however,  where  boys  become 
fellows,  there  is  an  occasional  fellow  who  would 
like  to  stretch  his  legs,  stick  his  hands  into  his 
pockets,  patronize  his  teacher  and  all  creation, 
and  treat  school  work  as  a  bore.  It  would  be  a 
great  wrong  to  that  fellow  to  treat  him  as  a 
sufferer;  it  would  be  a  great  wrong  to  that 
fellow  if  he  could  not  hear  the  sharp  note  of 
discipline.  When  the  teacher  speaks  with 
deprecation  the  school  is  undone.  I  stand  for 
no  coddling;  I  stand  for  no  indulgence.  A  man 
that  can  have  no  better  high  school  than  his 


240  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

fellows  choose  to  let  him  have,  has  mistaken 
his  calling. 

But  how  about  the  mental  sag  that  comes 
from  dropping  into  vice?  Prevention  is  better 
than  cure;  busy  children  are  vice  proof;  work  is 
the  disinfectant  of  the  high  school.  Get  work 
going;  and  it  will  soon  be  difficult  to  find  a 
vicious  character.  Bring  the  laggard  on.  That 
is  the  solution  of  the  whole  matter.  That  ends 
the  clogging. 

Who  can  meet  all  these  great  responsibilities 
of  the  school?  The  strong  teacher.  And  who 
can  fill  the  schools  with  strong  teachers?  The 
laggard.  Yes  we  need  the  laggard.  He  is  the 
sheet  anchor  of  our  hopes. 


Chapter  XXX 

Class- Individual  Instruction* 

Class-individual  instruction,  better  known  as 
the  Batavia  System,  had  its  origin  in  the  town 
of  Batavia,  N.  Y.  The  history  of  this  origin 
is  very  interesting.  There  was  an  over-crowded 
room  of  some  sixty  pupils  in  one  of  the  Batavia 
schools.  By  a  fortunate  suggestion  on  the  part 
of  Superintendent  John  Kennedy  it  was  decided 
to  relieve  the  congestion  by  putting  an  addi- 
tional teacher  into  the  room  instead  of  taking 
a  class  out.  This  teacher  was  Miss  Lucie  Hamil- 
ton and  to  her  rare  personality  and  superior 
teaching  power  is  due  largely  the  initial  success 
of  class-individual  instruction. 

Miss  Hamilton  was  not  an  assistant  to  the 
room  teacher.  Her  rank  was  coordinate  but 
her  work  was  entirely  different.     It  was  to  be 


*From  Classification  in  the  Public  Schools  by  W.  H.  Holmes. 
(241) 


242  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

wholly  with  those  pupils  who  for  one  reason  or 
another  were  behind  their  class.  She  was  to 
work  with  these  pupils  individually  until  they 
were  able  to  work  with  the  other  members  of  the 
class.  She  was  to  work  with  the  laggards  until 
they  were  able  to  work  with  the  leaders.  From 
this  individual  teacher,  class-individual  instruc- 
tion took  its  rise.  For  the  first  time  in  the 
history  of  education  a  teacher  had  been  assigned 
to  deal  with  backward  pupils  in  a  humane  way. 
Up  to  this  time  they  had  been  neglected  or  else 
classed  by  themselves  in  rooms  for  backward 
pupils  and  with  the  spur  that  comes  from  an 
aggregation  of  dullness  they  were  supposed  to 
succeed.  Now  they  were  to  be  kept  with  their 
fellows  and  given  the  opportunity  to  succeed. 
And  they  did  succeed.  After  a  few  months  of 
class-individual  instruction,  it  was  evident  that 
a  marked  change  had  taken  place  in  the  first 
of  two-teacher  rooms.  Pupils  who  had  been 
considered  very  dull  began  to  improve,  and 
some  of  them  were  soon  up  among  the  leaders 


INDIVIDUAL    TEACHING  243 

There  was  only  one  way  to  explain  the  really 
marvelous  change.  The  reason  lay  in  the  work 
of  the  teacher,  who  hour  after  hour,  and  day 
after  day,  had  called  the  retarded  and  backward 
pupils  to  her  side  to  find  the  difficulties,  and  to 
encourage  them  to  overcome  these  difficulties. 

There  was  not  only  a  change  in  the  working 
ability  of  the  pupils,  there  was  a  change  in  their 
attitude  as  well.  The  whole  atmosphere  of  the 
room  was  changed.  All  were  happily  at  work. 
There  were  no  bright  pupils  with  nothing  to  do, 
and  no  dull  pupils  who  cotild  do  nothing.  The 
standard  of  work  was  gauged  by  what  the  ablest 
pupil  could  do,  and  all  the  pupils  were  soon  well 
up  to  the  standard. 

So  the  good  work  went  on  in  that  room,  and 
then  the  test  came.  Would  the  plan  get  similar 
results  in  other  over-crowded  rooms?  Addi- 
tional teachers  were  placed  in  other  overcrowded 
rooms,  and  the  results  were  as  good  as  those  of 
the  original  two-teacher  room.  It  was  thus 
shown  that  the  success  of  the  plan  was  not  due 


244  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

to  the  personality  or  ability  of  a  specially  gifted 
teacher. 

The  success  of  the  plan  was  so  great  that  the 
superintendent  and  school  officials  began  to 
think  that  the  two-teacher  room,  with  the  com- 
bination of  class  and  individual  instruction,  was 
the  only  solution  of  the  problem  of  the  d\ill  and 
backward  child.  But  after  the  two-teacher 
plan  had  been  in  successful  operation  for  a  year, 
it  dawned  upon  Superintendent  Kennedy  that 
success  was  due  not  to  the  two  teachers  but  to 
the  two  kinds  of  teaching.  It  was  the  happy 
blending  of  individual  with  class  instruction 
that  was  obtaining  the  results.  So  after  think- 
ing the  matter  out  very  carefully,  he  announced 
to  the  teachers  of  the  regular  grade  rooms  that 
they  also  were  to  give  individual  instruction. 
He  tells  us  that  they  looked  astonished  and 
asked  how  it  was  to  be  done.  His  answer  was 
that  half  the  school  time  was  to  be  taken  for 
individual  instruction  and  half  for  class  instruc- 
tion.    Some    of   the   teachers    doubted;    some 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  245 

protested,  saying  they  could  only  get  the  pupils 
along  by  giving  all  the  time  to  class  work  and 
to  expect  the  work  to  be  done  by  devoting  one- 
half  the  time  to  the  dullards  was  simply  pre- 
posterous. 

"Well,"  said  the  superintendent,  ''the  only 
way  to  tell  is  to  try  it.  We  have  the  old  school 
plant  intact.  We  have  torn  nothing  down;  and 
if  the  new  plan  proves  a  failure  it  will  be  an  easy 
matter  to  go  back  to  the  old  way.  All  I  ask  is 
that  you  give  the  new  plan  a  thorough  trial." 

And  they  did — and  no  teacher  went  back  to 
the  old  plan,  and  no  teacher  has  ever  wanted  to 
go  back.  In  this  way  the  Batavian  System  had 
its  birth.  Its  success  in  the  single-teacher 
rooms  was  as  marked  as  that  in  the  two-teacher 
rooms.  It  met  with  like  success  in  the  rooms 
where  one  teacher  taught  two  grades,  and  it  has 
met  with  success  in  schools  where  the  teacher 
has  many  grades. 

Briefly,  then,  class-individual  instruction  is 
a  systematic  plan  for  helping  slow  and  backward 


246  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

pupils  to  help  themselves.  We  know  that  it 
has  wonderful  power  to  open  the  minds  and 
hearts  of  children,  both  large  and  small,  and 
cause  them  to  unfold  and  grow.  Col.  Parker 
has  said  that  the  best  result  of  the  Quincy  idea 
was  a  more  humane  treatment  of  little  children. 
The  best  result  of  class-instruction  is  a  more 
humane  treatment  of  all  children,  large  as  well 
as  small.  We  have  been  sacrificing  millions 
of  our  children  to  the  machinery  of  the  graded 
school  system.  We  have  been  trying  to  me- 
chanize education.  Class-instruction  seeks  to 
humanize  this  mechanism.  It  is  only  sympathy 
and  common  sense  combined.  For  years  we 
have  been  writing  and  talking  about  the  indi- 
vidual child  but  we  have  been  doing  very  little 
for  him.  Class-individual  instruction  does 
something  for  the  individual  child. 

The  idea  of  the  system  is  really  very  beautiful. 
Here  is  an  intelligent,  sympathetic  teacher, 
studying  her  flock  to  find  the  needy  ones.  She 
calls  these  needy  ones  to  her   side,    one   after 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  247 

another,  and  talks  with  them,  and  encourages 
them,  points  out  their  difficulties,  and  leads 
them  to  master  these  difficulties.  She  points 
the  way, — she  leads,  they  work  and  gain  the 
power.  The  thing  most  needed  in  our  schools 
is  systematic,  sympathetic  individual  help  as 
an  aid  to  class  instruction.  The  plan  we  are 
considering  gives  this  systematic,  sympathetic, 
individual   help. 

What  has  the  plan  done  for  the  children  of 
Batavia? 

It  has  given  them  the  spirit  of  work  and  the 
power  to  work.  The  spirit  of  work  is  every- 
were  in  all  rooms.  The  pupils,  all  of  them,  at- 
tack difficulties  with  confidence  and  self-reliance. 

You  know  there  is  a  saying  that  ''he  who  can 
is  king."  The  children  of  Batavia  can,  they 
have  power;  they  can  do  things;  they  are  kings 
of  their  work.  They  attack  difficulties  without 
shrinking  or  cringing;  and  they  master  things 
usually.  In  the  case  they  are  not  able  to  master 
a  difficulty,  there  is  someone  ready  to  point 


248  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

the  way  to  mastery.  The  individual  teacher 
is  a  leader  rather  than  a  helper.  She  has  travel- 
led the  road  and  knows  the  way.  She  says  to 
the  pupil,  ''This  way,  follow  me."  The  pupil 
follows  but  does  the  climbing  himself;  there  is 
no  boosting  by  the  teacher. 

The  person  who  thinks  that  individual  in- 
struction means  doing  the  work  for  the  pupil 
misses  the  point  entirely.  The  teacher  works 
with  the  pupil,  not  for  him.  She  gives  him 
sympathy  in  his  difficulties,  but  she  never  be- 
comes so  sentimental  as  to  do  his  work  for  him. 
She  encourages  him  by  telling  him  that  the 
difficulties  he  is  meeting  are  such  as  all  who  have 
travelled  the  road  of  knowledge  have  met  and 
mastered  and  they  are  such  as  he  may  master 
if  he  will  put  forth  the  effort.  The  successful 
teacher  under  the  class-individual  instruction 
plan  is  a  sympathetic,  patient,  courageous  lead- 
er and  as  such  she  develops  sympathy,  patience 
and  courage  in  her  pupils. 

The  late  Professor  Hinsdale,  in  his  excellent 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  249 

book,  ''The  Art  of  Study,"  tells  us  that  nowhere 
in  this  country  is  the  art  of  study  adequately 
taught.  He  then  tells  us  that  children  must 
learn  to  study  by  studying  under  intelligent 
direction.  The  intelligent  direction  is  the  teach- 
er's work.  It  means  directing  in  the  right  way, 
time,  and  place.  Teaching  is  causing  the  pupils 
to  learn  through  intelligent  direction.  The 
pupil  must  do  the  work,  do  the  studying  him- 
self. The  pupils  at  Batavia  know  how  to  study 
and  they  study.  They  work  and  are  happy.. 
They  have  time  for  study  and  they  use  that  for 
study.  The  great  cry  all  along  the  line  is,  that 
children  do  not  know  how  to  study.  How  can 
they  know  if  we  do  not  give  them  the  opportuni- 
ty to  learn?  Direct  them  intelligently,  give 
them  something  definite  to  study,  and  then  hold 
them  responsible  for  the  work  assigned  and  you 
will  find  the  children  will  develop  the  power 
to  study. 

The  fault  with  most  teachers  is  that  they 
help  either  too  little  or  too  much.     In  one  case 


250  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

the  result  is  discouragement;  in  the  other  it  is 
loss  of  power.  To  let  a  pupil  wrestle  with 
difficulties  that  he  cannot  master,  is  bad;  to 
help  him  over  difficulties  that  he  can  master 
with  proper  direction,  is  perhaps  worse.  In- 
dividual instruction  aims  to  teach  the  pupil 
how  to  study  by  giving  him  something  definite 
to  study,  with  proper  direction  in  case  of  need. 
The  children  at  Batavia  have  the  power  of 
independent  work.  There  was  no  deception 
on  the  part  of  the  pupil,  no  trying  to  tell  some- 
thing that  the  pupil  did  not  know  was  right,  in 
the  hope  that  it  might  happen  to  be  right.  This 
habit  of  bluffing  is  perhaps  the  worst  trait 
possessed  by  school  children  to-day.  It  is  the 
attempt  to  get  credit  for  something  that  is  not 
the  pupil's  own  possession.  It  is  the  direct 
result  of  the  present  system  of  class  teaching, 
when  the  teacher  is  a  tester  and  not  a  true 
teacher;  where  it  is  a  disgrace  to  confess  ig- 
norance and  to  say,  'T  don't  know."  If  a  pupil 
in  Batavia  does  not  know  a  thing,  he  says  so 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  251 

frankly,  and  is  either  told  to  look  it  up,  or  at 
the  next  individual  period  he  is  taught  what 
he  did  not  know.  There  is  no  premium  placed 
on  superficial  word  repetition.  There  is  no 
attempt  to  deceive  the  teacher;  such  an  at- 
tempt would  fail  because  the  teacher  knows  her 
pupil.  Her  work  is  teaching  not  testing.  She 
tests,  of  course ;  but  she  tests  that  she  may  teach ; 
she  does  not  teach  that  she  may  test.  There 
is  a  great  difference  between  the  two  kinds  of 
work.  The  pupils  are  working  for  knowledge 
and  power,  not  for  a  high  per  cent,  of  report 
cards.  If  the  plan  did  nothing  more  than 
eliminate  deception  from  class  recitation  it 
would  be  a  great  blessing. 

Some  of  the  chief  merits  of  class-individual 
instruction  are  its  provision  daily  for  a  definite 
amount  of  individual  instruction  and  its  insis- 
tence that  this  time  be  given  to  those  pupils 
who  are  most  in  need. 

It  also  lays  stress  on  the  fact  that  instruction 
is  to  be  given  at  the  point  of  greatest  need  rather 


252  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

than  of  the  daily  lesson.  This  is  one  of  the 
main  principles  of  efficient  individual  teaching, 
yet  it  is  one  that  it  is  hardest  to  get  -teachers  to 
apply.  Real  individual  teaching  goes  back, 
back  until  it  reaches  solid  ground  and  there  it 
begins  to  build. 

The  plan  also  provides  the  supervised  study- 
period.  The  plan  has  been  criticised  because 
it  devotes  too  much  time  to  the  backward  pupils. 
It  does  devote  a  large  share  of  the  time  to  the 
backward  pupils  because  they  are  the  most 
needy  but  in  case  the  bright  pupil  shows  that  he 
needs  individual  instruction  he  receives  his 
share. 


Chapter  XXXI 

Opinions  of  Teachers 

It  is  interesting  to  read  what  teachers  who 
have  used  individual  instruction  systematically 
in  the  school  room  for  a  period  of  several  years 
say  as  to  the  relation  between  pupil  and  teacher 
brought  about  by  its  use.  Here  are  some  bits 
of  testimony  from  teachers  of  Westerly,  R.  I., 
where  individual  instruction  is  a  regular  part 
of  the  daily  work.  A  department  teacher  of  the 
seventh  and  eighth  grade  writes: 

"The  strongest  argument  that  I  know  of  in 
favor  of  individual  work  is  the  opportunity  it 
gives  the  teacher  to  win  the  confidence  and 
understand  the  personality  of  the  pupil.  Es- 
pecially is  this  true  in  departmental  work,  where, 
as  in  my  case,  there  are  upwards  of  one  hundred 
thirty  dispositions  with  which  to  deal." 

Another  seventh-grade  teacher  writes: 

''There  is  closer  sympathy  between  teacher 

(253) 


254  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

and  pupils.  The  pupil  is  reached  in  a  way  that 
no  other  method  reaches  him." 

A  fifth-grade  teacher: 

"The  teacher  and  pupil  understand  each  other 
better,  are  drawn  closer  by  questioning,  and 
oftentimes  a  study  once  looked  upon  as  a  bug- 
bear becomes  one  of  pleasure  and  much  profit." 

A  departmental  teacher  in  geography  and 
science : 

*T  have  observed  a  much  more  perfect  under- 
standing of  pupil  by  teacher  and  vice- versa. 
Many  cases  of  discipline  have  been  most  pleas- 
antly adjusted  through  the  use  of  this  period. 
Many  unpleasant  happenings  have  been  avoided 
by  a  timely  talk,  a  suggestion  given,  or  the  case 
at  hand  clearly  put  before  the  pupil.  When 
the  way  is  clearly  pointed  out  many  follow  care- 
fully. In  the  case  of  new  pupils,  I  have  reached 
many  through  individual  periods,  have  had 
them  interested  and  reciting  well  in  a  short  time, 
whereas  I  would  not  have  established  an  ac- 
quaintance so  soon  had  it  not  been  for  the 


INDIVIDUAL   TEACHING  255 

individual  periods.  This  is  especially  noticeable 
in  the  case  of  children  who  are  timed,  who  come 
from  other  schools,  or  from  environments  quite 
different  from  that  of  an  average  pupil.'* 

A  fourth-grade  teacher : 

"There  is  no  doubt  about  individual  instruc- 
tion bringing  pupil  and  teacher  into  closer  rela- 
tions. It  broadens  the  sympathies  of  the 
teacher  for  the  pupil.  By  it,  the  real  difficulties 
and  problems  of  the  child  are  discovered.  I 
have  found  children  failing  from  poor  sight  or 
hearing,  some  whose  minds  were  distracted 
from  their  work  by  regularly  frequenting  the 
'cheap  show,'  and  some  who  were  purely  lazy 
and  needed  to  feel  the  pressure  of  compulsory 
work.  I  do  feel  that  the  opportunity  that 
individual  instruction  gives  me  to  know  my 
children  is  very  valuable.  The  personal  con- 
tact with  the  teacher  should  and  does  mean 
much  to  the  pupil." 

Third  and  fourth  grade: 

"As  a  result  of  this  work  there  is  a  pleasant 


256  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

atmosphere  in  the  room.  Pupils  do  not  become 
discouraged.  They  know  they  will  be  cheer- 
fully helped.  The  teacher  is  able  to  know  the 
pupils  better,  and  pointing  out  his  weak  points 
to  him  while  he  is  near  her  at  the  desk  is  more 
graciously  received  than  if  done  in  the  presence 
of  the  whole  class.  I  have  never  had  a  pupil 
who  did  not  accept  the  individual  help  in  the 
right  spirit.*' 

Mixed  room: 

'T  think  as  a  result  of  the  individual  system, 
the  teacher  and  pupils  become  better  acquainted 
with  each  other. .  There  is  a  closer  sympathy 
and  a  better  understanding.  The  teacher  sees 
more  clearly  the  obstacles  the  child  has  to 
encounter,'  and  the  child  learns  to  think  of  his 
teacher  as  a  friend  who  will  help  him." 

First  grade: 

*'I  think  that  the  pupil  and  teacher  are 
brought  more  closely  in  touch  with  each  other 
by  this  system  than  by  any  other.     I  would 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  257 

not  have  missed  the   close  relationship  for  a 
great  deal." 

These  bits  of  testimony  are  chosen  at  random 
from  a  considerable  number.  They  represent 
fairly  well  the  testimony  of  almost  all  the  teach- 
ers who  have  used  individual  instruction  for 
any  length  of  time. 

Leigh  Mitchell  Hedges  quoted  in  the  Philadel- 
phia North  American,  from  Prof.  F.  V.  O'Shea 
of  the  University  of  Wisconsin. 

''After  visiting  the  Batavia  schools  I  am  per- 
suaded that  a  work  is  going  on  there  that  will 
go  into  history  as  an  educational  renaissance, 
and  that  will  equal  the  great  renaissance  of 
Italy  in  its  importance  to  the  human  race.  A 
system  of  teaching  is  growing  up  there  that  is 
destined  to  bless  the  world," 


Chapter  XXXII 

A  Minesota  View* 

It  was  my  privilege  to  visit  the  Batavia 
schools  last  October.  I  can  truthfully  say  that 
the  claims  for  this  plan  are  well  grounded.  I 
visited  every  grade  from  the  beginners  through 
the  high  school.  In  every  room  of  more  than 
fifty  pupils  there  was  an  individual  teacher  at 
her  table  in  a  convenient  part  of  the  room,  busy 
at  work. 

In  the  lower  grades,  and  even  in  the  high 
school,  pupils  were  told  by  sign  or  word  to  go 
to  the  individual  teacher  at  once.  I  asked  the 
privilege  of  listening  to  the  work  done  by  these 
teachers.  It  was  found  that  ability  to  develop 
power  to  do,  rather  than  to  get  answers  was  the 


*From  School  Education.     By  the  Associate  Editor. 

(The  reader  is  referred  to  an  editorial  headed  "Fourteen 
Years  After,"  in  our  September  issue  for  a  summary  of  what 
has  been  accomplished  by  the  Batavia  System  in  the  city 
where  it  was  born,  fourteen  years  ago. — Editor.) 

(258) 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  259 

aim.  The  pupils  did  not  feel  that  it  was  a 
punishment  but  a  favor  conferred  upon  them  to 
go  to  the  individual  teacher. 

It  was  a  pleasure  to  go  from  room  to  room 
and  see  the  bright,  happy  faces  intent  on  the 
work  in  hand,  ready  and  anxious  to  do  their 
best,  not  for  show,  but  because  the  heart  was 
full  of  joy  and  gladness. 

If  anyone  failed  he  was  directed  to  the  in- 
dividual teacher  and  the  work  of  the  class  con- 
tinued as  if  there  had  been  no  interruption. 
No  time  was  spent  in  the  class  to  note  errors, 
reasons  why,  nor  to  see  to  it  that  the  pupil 
understood  wherein  he  failed.  The  individual 
teacher  attended  to  that ;  the  work  of  the  recita- 
tion— the  test  and  drill  of  the  matter  prepared 
by  the  pupils  was  first,  last,  and  all  the  time. 
When  a  new  topic  was  to  be  taken  up  sufficient 
time  was  given  in  the  class  to  prepare  for  the 
study  of  the  lesson  by  the  class  teacher.  I  was 
impressed  with  this  fact  throughout  the  school: 
that  the  recitation  was  the  pupils  and  they  were 


260  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

kept  busy  and  active  all  the  time.  Principles 
first,  then  application  and  drill.  I  did  not 
wonder  at  the  ability  and  skill  of  the  army  of 
children  in  the  Batavia  schools.  Their  ability 
to  see,  know,  and  appreciate  showed  itself  in 
scholarship  as  well  as  in  appearance  and  bearing. 

One  felt  that  character  was  being  formed  that 
would  develop  into  true  manhood  and  woman- 
hood, making  worthy  American  citizens. 

I  attended  a  part  of  the  opening  exercises  of 
the  high  school.  All  were  singing  as  we  entered. 
To  see  400  fine  boys  and  girls  standing  proud 
and  erect  in  their  young  manhood  and  woman- 
hood, and  to  feel  that  the  soul  went  out  in  the 
glad  strains  which  echoed  through  the  spacious 
auditorium  was  enough  to  inspire  the  coldest, 
unappreciative  heart.  As  our  eyes  looked  out 
over  this  beautiful  scene  and  noted  the  large 
proportion  of  boys — nearly  half — we  felt  like 
exclaiming  aloud  in  congratulations  over  the 
fine  showing.  We  enjoyed  the  choruses  of  this 
band — four   hundred    strong — but    the    climax 


INDIVIDUAL  TEACHING  261 

came  when  they  sang  their  High  School  Song. 
They  sang  it  with  a  spirit  that  thrilled  us  and 
filled  onr  hearts  with  admiration.  At  the  close 
of  this  song  all  stood  and  sang  two  stanzas  of 
The  Star  Spangled  Banner,  then  saluted  Old 
Glory, — a  large  silk  flag  draped  across  the  wall 
in  front.  Tears  filled  our  eyes  at  this  touching 
scene  and  we  felt  sure  that  our  country  would 
be  safe  in  hands  trained  to  such  loyal  deeds. 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  more  schools  will  adopt 
the  Batavia  system  and  that  more  high  schools 
will  be  filled  with  boys  and  girls  who  have 
turned  their  faces  toward  the  goal  that  makes 
for  character  and  citizenship.- 


Below  is  the  Batavia  High  School  Song: 
The  Blue  and  the  White 

Written  by  W.  L.  Coryell 
(Tune:  'The  Orange  and  Black") 

Our  school  has  always  favored 

That  rich  and  glossy  bltie, 
Which,  with  white  in  combination, 

Is  beautiful  and  true. 
They  are  always  floating  gayly 

And  never  out  of  sight, 
While  in  unison  we're  singing — 

Long  live  the  Blue  and  White. 

We  will  ever  praise  our  High  School, 

Which  in  Batavia  stands; 
''Individual  Instruction," 

Known  now  throughout  all  lands; 
And  its  faithful  corps  of  teachers 

Their   duty   never   slight. 
For  they  know  that  they  are  working 

For  the  Blue  and  the  White. 

We  recall  athletic  victories 

On  many  a  day  before; 
How  we  captured  prize  and  trophy, 

And  still  we  wish  for  more. 
But  we're  sure  that  we'll  not  falter 

As  we  renew  the  fight, 
Just  because  we're  marching  onward 

'Neath  the  Blue  and  the  White. 


I  NDEX 


THE   BATAVIA   SYSTEM,    INDEX 

Pages 

absence * 38,  74, 119 

achievement 219 

acquaintance. 254 

adjustability 105 

administration 94,  1 18 

adolescence 70 

advancement 18 

adults 180 

affection 23,61 

after  failure. . .-. 182 

school  assistance 45, 114, 157, 185, 193 

aggregation 72 

aims 165 

immediate 169 

initiative 177 

not  knowledge 177 

power 177 

remote 169 

Albany,  report  to 36,  166 

alert 186 

Alexander 231 

algebra 238 

alternating 114 

alternation 118 

ambition 42,  100,  122,  158 

American  democracy 235 

republic 236 

(265) 


266  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

anaemic  children 44, 105, 137 

ancestry 141 

Anderson,  Martin  B 234 

annual  intervals 167 

Antaeus 238 

anxiety 196 

appeal  of  the  street 48 

application 196 

Appomattox 236 

appreciation 197 

apprehension 42,  59 

slow 48 

aptitude 112 

Archimedean  lever 228 

Argentine  republic 103 

Aristotle 235 

Arnold,  Thomas 233,  234 

art 24 

of  study 249 

as  seen  in  Canada 213 

Ashtabula,  O 123 

aspiration 161 

assembled  children .  34 

assembly  stimulus. . . 53 

assigned  work 59 

assigning  lessons 58 

atmosphere 158,  164,  215,  255 

of  culture 169 

quiet 198 

attendance 26,  1 70 

attention 42,  59,  82,  145,  174,  186 

attitude  changed 243 

of  parent • ,. 198 


INDEX  267 

attitude  of  teacher 27 

attrition. 17,  19,  54 

atypical 173 

audience  needed < 54 

available  results 170 

average  attendance 170 

children 20 

scholarship 124 

awkward  boy , 210 

squad 114 

back  work 44 

only 63 

backward  children  11,  42,  102,  104,  114,  115,  120,  144, 
145,  149,  174,  200,  215,  242,  245,  252 

balanced  forces 64 

school 172 

Batavia  Daily  News  q " 76 

Evening  Times  q 131 

Sunday  Times  q 151 

system 32 

benefits  summarized 76 

central  idea 118,  216 

description '.  .  103,  140,  186,  217 

essence  of 208 

experiment 3Z 

flywheel 34 

history 9,  24,  39,  98,  115,  131,  214,  241 

outside  school 109 

principal  merit 64 

results  in ..19,82,85,119,  124,219 

Beck,  J.  K 126 

behavior  in  the  street 109 

Belknap,  Emmett 151,  152,  153,  q  154 


268  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

Belle  city  of  the  lakes .129 

below  the  belt 237 

benefits  summarized 76 

benignity 62 

Birmingham,  England 96 

bitter  thoughts 24 

bitterness 173 

blind 176 

blockheads 61 

blocking  system 114 

bloom 43 

Bloomington,  Ind.  Evening  World  q 126 

Telephone  q 127 

Blue  and  the  white 262 

bluffing 250 

bodily  rest 148 

born  short 174 

Botticelli 57 

boy  and  girl 50,  82 

famine 172 

boys  in  high  school. 50,  260 

made  cheap 172 

vs.  girls 50 

Bradfute,  Walter  q 127 

Bradish,  John  Holley 101, 131 

P.  P 131 

brains  highly  developed 137 

branding  children .  55 

brawniness 175 

breadth 17,19 

and  depth 53 

break  down : 77,  132,  163 

bright  pupils 90,  121,  182,  213,  215,  252 


INDEX  269 

bright  brightest , 15,  26 

from  dull 93 

British  empire 236 

Buffalo,  N.  Y 123 

build,  not  repress 81 

buildings 121,  171,  237 

Bunker  Hill 234 

buoyancy 53 

bustle 196 

busy  and  active 260 

brains,  no  pranks 148 

children 158,  172 

vice-proof 240 

cadet  system 114 

Caesar 231 

Caesars 234 

Cambridge 235 

Canada 110 

view 213 

capacity 112 

centaur 57 

central  idea 118 

Chicago  university 162 

chiding 158 

child  study 60, 149,  232 

childhood 49 

children  as  a  herd 68 

effect  on 24 

chivalry 236 

Christianity,  educational 110 

chaos 37 

character 16,  21,  260,  261 

fighting  for 60 


270  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

character  promoted 164 

richest  and  ripest 62 

shaping 212 

charity 62 

charmers  without  competition 48 

Charlottesville,  Va 83,  125 

cheap  boys 172 

shows 255 

cheerful  faces 25 

cheerfulness 88, 198 

circumstances 89 

citizenship 112,  261 

class  hearing 144 

instruction  17,   19,  81,  92,   132,   133,   136,   177,   215, 
218,220,244 

corrected 223 

individual ».  .  .  .  241 

supplemented 223 

membership 177 

overhearing 209 

recitation 140 

overvalued 194 

stimulus 178,  186 

teacher 27,  39,  64 

teaching ; 73,  250 

uninterrupted 109,  121 

waiting 64 

work ,  .  .  53 

a  tonic 118 

classes,  large  preferable 171 

classification 1,  54,  159 

climbing ' 107,  248 

clogging 15,  100,  229,  240 


INDEX  271 

clogs 39 

closely  in  touch 256 

closer  relations 255 

clucking 23 

coadjutor  of  class  teaching 38 

coddling 60,  239 

collapse 9, 41 

college 73,  168, 170,  238 

community 29 

life 54 

competition '. 81,  136 

composure  of  spirit 42,  228 

compulsory  attendance 224 

education 235 

law 230 

work 255 

conduct 88 

concentration ^ 118 

Cone,  Hobart  B 101,  131 

confidence 42,  49,  100,  209,  219,  247,  253 

conquering  difficulty 230 

conquest  of  ignorance 183 

conservation 135 

conserve  the  system 227 

contentment 62 

Council  of  superintendents,  N.  Y 96 

courage 197,  248 

conversing 211 

cordial  relations 211 

corporal  punishment 159 

correction 158 

of  class  work 17 

corruptionists 231 


272  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

Coryell,  W.  L.  q 262 

course  of  study. 23 

cowardice 177 

craven  act 236 

creditable  things 231 

criminals 56 

crisis  in  his  career 47 

criticism 210 

cross-purposes 173 

crowd  a  stimulus 232 

crowds  uplift  or  crush 163 

crowded  room 147 

to  the  wall 49 

crushing 163 

cultivation 51 

culture 169 

curriculum 139 

damaging  influence 146 

Darwinian  machine 48 

deadlocks 16 

deaf 176 

deception 236 

decimation 28 

defectives 69,  81, 136,  160,  173,  229 

deficient  hearing 255 

definite  stages 73 

delay 149 

delinquents 45 

democracy,  American 235 

EngHsh 235 

demotion 159,  230 

departmental  work 253 

depletion 21,  27,  28,  30,  45,  47 


INDEX  273 

deprecation 239 

depression 14 

description 103, 140,  186,  217 

despair 26 

dispelled 42 

destined  to  bless  the  world 257 

destructive  fallacy 54 

determining  factors 47 

detention  after  school 45, 114, 157, 185, 193 

development  of  new  topic 187 

devotion  to  work 88 

diagnosis 174 

dictating 94 

difficulties 219 

attacked 247 

direction 249 

disappearance 48 

discouraged 92,  118,  147 

discouragement 14,  15,  37,  63,  90,  250,  256 

discover  for  himself 105 

discipline..  .  .88, 104,  118,  120,  147,  164, 198,  221,  239,  254 

disease  centres 28 

disintegration 168 

disobedience /^.  158 

disorder 21,  88,  158 

disposition 219 

distress 20,  42,  100 

district  school 73,  225 

disturbance 93 

division  of  time 140 

do  for  himself 105 

doing  in  public 17 

time 56 


274  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

don'ts 11,  59,  80,  105,  134 

downtrodden 48 

dragging '. 20,40,48,49,53 

a  teacher 20 

drawing 159, 182 

drilling 136 

dropping  out 14 

drudgery 21,  161 

dual  process 12 

dull  boy 144 

child 149 

pupil 82,  90,  92,  113,  215,  242 

strong 26 

dullness 142 

dunce  class 230 

duty 178 

e  pluribus  unum 239 

eagerness 198 

earnestness 221 

echelon 25 

educate  themselves 58 

education  a  mechanism 68 

a  state  of  mind 231 

from  the  bottom 70 

educational  Christianity 110 

renaissance : 257 

effects 22 

on  teacher 148,  238 

efficiency 91 

eighth  grade 169 

elasticity 222 

elective  course 169 

eliminated 28 


INDEX  275 

elimination 224 

of  the  laggard. 232 

of  the  9th  grade 151 

Eliot. . : 235 

emasculation 55 

emptying  of  schools 47 

emulation 17,  19,  54 

en  masse 173 

and  chaos 37 

encouragement 73,  92,  219,  233,  247,  248 

energy  conserved 220 

English  democracy 235 

government 97 

teaching  of 180 

ennobling , ^ 170 

enriched  course 52 

environment 89,  106, 141 

equal  endowment 141 

equality  of  conditions 89 

environment 89 

nature 89 

equipoise .14 

errors  exhibited .' 146 

in  porcesses 145 

esprit  du  corps 146 

Eton 235 

Euclid 235 

evenness  in  grades 38 

evil,  recruits  of 47 

safeguard  from .  164 

evolution 115 

examinations •. 95,  166 

failures  eliminated 221 


276  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

examinations  Regents 221 

expedients 114 

expense 25,  38,  91, 120,  159,  171 

reduced 53 

explaining  away 236 

exploitation 25 

eyesight 137,  174,   255 

failure 221 

of  teacher  to  teach 143 

the  rule 15 

fair  fighting 237 

falling  out. 14 

family  need 142 

Federspeil,  M.  A 151, 152 

feeble-minded 69, 175 

Ferry,  Martha 83 

q : 124 

fewer  teachers » 53 

fifty  children,  two  teachers 56 

fighting  for  a  character 60 

finances 33 

Finns 180 

firmness 82 

first  grade 180 

individual  teacher 78 

flabby  work 50 

flagging 15 

flexibility 73 

fly-wheel  of  system 34 

force ; 173 

foreign  parentage 180 

formation,  not  reformation 47 

frankly  confidential 149 


INDEX  277 

freedom 158 

from  violence 47 

fret  and  fury 45 

friction 121,  124 

from  bottom  up 68 

fundamental  idea 216 

fury  and  fret 45 

gaps  in  the  ranks 74 

generalization 67 

generalized  education 67 

geniality 228 

genius .112 

detected 137 

in  pupils 70 

gentle  voice 210 

gentleman 236 

geography. 254 

geometry 169 

German  system 1 14 

getting  rid  of  children 49 

Gettysburg 236 

ghostly  abstractions 67 

giants 175 

girls  vs.  boys 50 

goal , 176 

golden  opportunity 49 

good  conduct 62 

fighting 236 

governor  needed 34 

graces  of  society 51 

grade  dissection 167 

graded  system  25,  27,  29,  34,  37,  39,  56,  93,  105,  112, 
115,216,219 


278  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

graded  destructive  tendencies 33 

evolution  of 33 

harsh 44 

maintained 105 

necessity 70 

standing  reproach ,  .  .  . 9 

transformed 33 

unfinished 34 

grades  intact •. 167 

moved. .  . '. 164 

graduates 128 

grafters ." 231 

grammar  grades  full 120 

Grant,  U.  S. 69 

grasp  principles 147 

Greek  temple 237 

Greeley,  Horace,  q 55 

grinding  out  men 68 

growth  at  top 107 

guidance 47 

guidon 72 

H.  O 179 

Hall,  G.  Stanley 96 

Hamilton,  Lucie .78,101,  133,215,241 

handicapped 173 

Hampden 235 

happiness 100 

happy  blending 244 

children .  26,  158 

faces 259 

pupils 119 

schools 43 

teachers 119 


INDEX  279 

harrow 24 

Harrow 235 

harsh  system 44 

harshness 88,  189 

Hartford;  Conn 114 

Haverhill,  Mass 185,  200 

Hazelton,  Pa 110 

he  who  can  is  king 247 

health 40,  100,  158 

of  teacher 23,  52 

recovered 163 

hearing 137,  174,  255 

lessons 58 

heart  breaking 24 

growth 62 

Hedges,  Leigh  Mitchell,  q 98,  257 

help  at  the  time 108 

by  questions 109 

in  advance 182 

too  little  or  two  much 249 

helplessness 41 

heritage  of  capability 27 

heterogeneity • .  .  . .  141 

high  aims 164 

high  school  13,  S3,  94,  95,  122,  127,  148,  156,  168,  190, 
199,214,217,238 

doubled 49,  120 

filled 21 

individualized 218 

lagging 239 

song 261,  262 

the  test ■ 70 

high  standing 127 


280  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

higher  education 128, 168, 170 

Hinsdale,  Prof,  q 248 

history  of  system 9,  24,  39,  98, 115,  131,  214,  241 

Holmes.  Stanley  H.  q 185 

W.  H.  q 241 

home  study 40,  44, 106, 119, 127, 156, 198 

eliminated 195 

homes,  effect  on 43 

hoodlums 48, 172 

hope 42 

Hopkins,  Mark 233 

hospital  system 115 

Houston,  J.  A.  q 213 

how  to  do  it 80 

to  study 118 

humane  treatment 246 

humanize 170 

humiliating 182 

hydra-headed 230 

hygienists 28 

hysteria 22,  78 

inattention 88 

ideals  and  stakes 228 

idealists 231 

ideals   obsolete 237 

idiocy 69,  70 

ignorance  confessed 250 

Illinois 110 

imprisonment 45 

in  every  grade 199 

incapability 27 

incorrect  sentences 146 

incorrigibles 41,  56,  57, 175,  176,  230 


INDEX  281 

independence 28,96, 122,  219,  221 

developed , 58 

independent  study 135 

work 250 

Indiana  view 126 

individual  attention 15 

first,  then  mass 66 

needs  of 10 

indolence 63 

indulgence 239 

industrial  demand 142 

education .' 169 

inefficiency 135 

inequality  of  constitution 163 

inertia 232 

inertness 174 

inflexibility 105 

ingenuous  youth 234 

initiative 58,  60, 177 

of  pupils 219 

of  the  teacher 63 

injurious  tendencies 29 

injustice 48 

innovation 31 

insolvent 178 

inspiration 115,  163 

intellectual  deficiency 160 

inteelligence 88 

intensive  study 195 

interest 14,21,26,41,50,53,145,147,221 

moral  safeguard 49 

inventions 35 

invidious  comparisons 88 


282  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

irregular  attendance 14 

Ishpeming,  Mich 180 

janitors 171 

Japan 103 

Jesus  Christ  q 150 

joy  in  work 42 

of  achievement 219 

just  teachers 50 

justice 56,  177 

juvenile  delinquents 56 

Kennedy,  John  76,  78,  87,  96,  98,  99,  101,  110,  124,  131, 

135,181,184,213,216,241 

portrait,  jrontispiece 

q 107 

report  to  Albany 36 

key-note  for  next  decade 96 

kindly  feeling 57 

kings  of  their  work 247 

knowledge 177 

and  power 251 

-     of  pupil 82 

abor  and  wait 175 

lessened 124 

making 172 

more  effective 211 

saving 172 

Lacy,  Winifred  q 180 

Ladd,  E.  A 213 

q 139 

ladder  to  success 216 

Lady  Wisdom 57 

laggard  15,  31,  64,  72,  82,  85,  90,  100,  136,  150,  174,  181, 

239, 242 


INDEX  283 

an  educationist 233 

commands  the  situation 229 

getting  rid  of 229 

makes  teaching  great 233,  240 

what  to  do  with  him 224 

lagging 215 

Lakewood,  N.  Y.  address 19 

language 182 

larger  classes 171 

Latin 238 

laziness 63, 177,  255 

lead  the  mind 59 

leader,  not  helper 248 

leaven  the  lump 237 

less  work 120 

lesson  line. 63 

levelled  up 149,  234 

levelling  process 234 

upward 149,  234 

liberal  culture 170 

lies 236 

limp  boys 51 

lines  of  least  resistance 68,  142 

Livy 235 

Lockport,  N.  Y 151 

Union-Sun  q.  . 151 

lock-up 176 

long  legs 210 

longevity 52 

loud  voice 189 

love  and  sympathy 150 

for  the  child 61 

loving  attention 68 


284  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

low  voice 189 

McCosh,  James / .  . .  234 

McKenzie,  John  M 101, 131 

machines 25,  30,  66,  140,  222 

malnutrition 137 

manly  exercises 231 

map  of  progress 73 

Marathon 234 

Mark,   Thiselton 96 

marking  exercises 158 

Marston  Moor 236 

martyrs 23 

mass 89 

methods 141 

not  herd 54 

tangled 163 

teaching 39 

massing  of  children 54 

mastery 93 

self -gained 189 

maximum 166 

mechanism •. 68 

mechanized  education 246 

mechanizing 81 

medical  service 20 

medieval  cathedral 237 

memory 82 

mental  condition 157 

damnation .....113 

injury 28,  30 

pressure 145 

sag 240 

troubles 173 


INDEX  285 

merciful , 51 

miasma 77 

Michigan 123 

mind,  fighting  for 60 

ministration 31,  94 

Minnesota  view 258 

mixed  room 256 

momentum  of  numbers 54 

Montreal,  Canada 123 

moral  danger 44,  48 

effect 16,  196,  212 

health 16 

injuries ; 28,  30 

stamina 48 

more  time 121 

mothers 62 

overworked ^ 40 

motives  of  children : 216 

movement  of  grade 38 

music 159,  182 

mutual  understanding 254 

nagging .  .23 

Naseby 236 

National  superintendents 96 

nature 89 

needs,  rights,  duties 278 

needy  pupils 251 

nerve  wrecked 51 

nerves 163 

nervous  breakdown 133 

debility 41,  163 

depletion 45 

dread 105 


286  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

nervous  system 137 

timidity 1 74 

wrench 102 

nervousness 41 

neurasthenia 41,  64,  105 

never  in  lessons  to  come 63 

new  education 42 

maxims 43 

pupils 254 

topics 187,  259 

New  England  Journal  of  Ed'n  q 180 

New  York  city 110,  123 

Newton,  Isaac 69, 137 

ninth  grade 153 

eliminated 151 

no  backward  step 33 

class  time  lost 259 

extra  cost 17 

extra  labor 17 

telling • 11 

uniformity 220 

Noah's  ark 172 

noble  manhood 231 

sentiments 231 

non-organization 225 

normal  children 90, 105,  176,  216 

conditions 45 

method 136 

North  American.  Phila.,  q 98 

not  a  coach 134 

alike 217 

before  class 256 

equal 217 


INDEX  287 

not  punishment 259 

numbers,  effect  of 19 

momentum  of 54 

O'Shea,  M.  V 257 

q 98 

obstacles 256 

obstructed  school 14 

obstruction 66 

occupation  interested 164 

Ogdensburg,  N.  Y 87, 123 

Ohio 110 

Old  Glory 262 

one  link  lost 147 

Ontario,  Canada 213 

opening  exercises 260 

the  heart 61 

opinions  of  teachers 253 

oral  expression 188 

order 62, 164, 198 

organization 30,  37,  168,  224,  226,  235 

a  necessity i S3 

a  snare ; 227 

downward 73 

humanized 66 

out  of  the  mouths  of  babes 60 

overcrowded  rooms  9,31,  32,  80,  98,  111,  131,  200,  214,  241 

overflow  room 37 

overstrain 14,  41, 45,  77,  90, 156 

over-work 45,  79,  156 

Oxford 235 

Palmer,  E.  D Ill 

parental  wisdom 51 

parents '. 30,  43,  45 


288  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

parents  attitude 198 

joy  of 38 

suffering 40 

tortured 77 

Parker,  Col  F.  W 246 

passivity 174 

pathetic  silence 24 

patience 82,  248 

patronizing  the  teacher : 239 

Pease,  Robert  B 101, 131 

pedagogic  principles 219 

pedagogical  giant 233 

per  capita  cost 171 

perception 59 

periods  for  study.^ 219 

persecution 64 

personal  contact 255 

equation 222 

relations 149 

service 94 

personality 82,  215,  253 

studied 220 

Peterborough,  Canada 123 

Philadelphia,  Pa , 85 

view 98 

physical 105 

comfort 210 

defects 136 

disability 160 

effect 148 

exercise 58 

health 16 

injuries 28 


INDEX  289 

physical  troubles 173 

vigor 238 

wreck 102 

physician 43 

pinched 225 

plagues 41 

Piatt,  Charles  E.  q 131 

point  of  greatest  need 251 

poor  sight 137, 174,  255 

popular 31 

popularity 162 

pouring  children 139 

power 177 

to  do 258 

to  work 247 

with  affection 23 

precociousness 138 

prejudice 184 

preoccupation 164 

preparation  section 12 

preparatory  school 73 

present  view 139 

pressure 77,  90 

pride 158 

prime  method 136 

pillar 19 

Principals  conference,  N.  Y 224 

privacy 216 

Procrustean  bed 67,  74 

prodigy  called 63 

promotion  90,  95,  102,  119,  122,  142,  149,  164,  183,  193, 
237 
anxiety 197 


290  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

promotion  not  by  favor 166 

reports 173 

semi-annual 154 

yearly 159 

Providence,  R.  1 115 

pupil  who  fails 187 

pupil-teacher 114 

put  on  his  feet 177 

pygmy 175 

quantitative  feature 43 

formula 179 

quasi  penal 56 

questioning 143,  254 

questions 109,  177,  238 

quick  pupils 122,  164,  227 

sections 55 

quiet 189 

study 218 

Quincy  idea 246 

race-horses 71 

Racine,  Wis 123 

News  q 129 

Rawles,  Wm.  A 126,  127 

reaching  the  individual 55 

recitations 186,  192 

do  not  drag 104 

fewer 157 

section 12 

tragic  struggles 16 

uninterrupted 144, 157, 188,  195,  259 

recruits  of  evil 48 

red  marks. 128 

Reed,  Miss.  q. 200 


INDEX  291 

refinement 24 

refining 170 

reformation 47,  62 

Regents  of  the  University  of  N.  Y. 96 

examinations 95,  166,  221 

registration 170 

regulating , 94 

rejected 140 

relation  of  two  teachers 118 

relationship 257 

remedial 16 

remedies 22 

remote  aims. 165, 169 

reduced  expense ' 17 

renaissance 257 

repose 14,  49 

reproaches 88 

reproof 88 

rescued  laggard 238 

resentment 27,  66 

restoration 16 

restorative  effects 17 

results  in  Batavia 19,  82,  85,  124,  219 

outside  school 109 

summarized 119 

resuscitation 47 

retains  pupils 47,  49,  220 

retardation 48, 165, 183,  227,  243 

retroactive  influences' 149 

retrogression 74 

revealed  weakness ;  . .  63 

revelation  and  revolution 37,  75, 101,  1 31 

revolutionize 97 


292  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

richer  chrysalis 69 

ridicule 209 

right-angle  to  line 165 

Romanoffs 234 

rooms  larger 121 

rowdyishness 109 

royal  roads 172 

Rugby  school 233,  234,  235 

rugs 67 

run  in 56,  176 

safe-guard  against  evil 164 

safe-guarded 44 

safety 43 

sagging 172,  224,  227,  228,  230 

salubrious  teaching 21,  163 

salutary  conditions 45 

sanctuary 237 

sane  teachers 50 

sanitary  conditions 46,  238 

sanitation 163 

saps  energy 183 

sarcasm • 88 

Satan 25 

satisfactory 186 

save  the  rejected 140 

scholarship 88,  260 

School  Education,  q 258 

school  hours  only 44 

plant 42,  245 

records 155,  166 

register 1 70 

work  a  bore 239 

science - .  .  .  .  254 


INDEX  293 

scientific  management 135 

scolding 120 

scorching 210 

Scott,  Walter 69 

Scribner,  E.  E 181 

seating 174 

seclusion 143 

second  teacher  29,  32,  37,  90,  104,  107,  108,  116,  132,  159, 
181,  185,  188,  241 

work 31 

see  that  it  is  done 80 

that  the  child  knows 59 

segregation 56,  72,  175 

self -activity  the  goal : 59 

-appropriation 42 

-confidence 58 

-elimination 17 

-help 189 

-reliance 58,  88,  219,  221,  247 

-respect 211 

semi-annual  promotion 154,  168 

sensible 186 

sentimentality 248 

sequence  of  efforts 28 

sequent  steps 60 

service 94 

severity 88 

sharp  words 120 

shawls 67 

Shiloh 236 

side-draught 64 

-lights 17, 19;  54 

simple 186 


294  THE  BATAVIA   SYSTEM 

singing -.  .  .  .  260 

single  teacher  32,  55,  91,  104,  116,  119,  159,  185,  190, 
209, 215,  244 

Sisyphus,  taste  of 226 

skipping  grades 159,  165 

slant  and  echelon 25 

slanting  line 26 

sleep ^ 43 

slow-minded  children  14,  27,  38,  48,  69,  92,  112,  122,  134, 
136, 192,  200,  215,227,  245 

become  bright 184 

our  teachers 60 

sections 55 

to  the  front 107 

small  groups 55 

snaring  children 225,  227 

sobs 24 

stifled 40 

social  life  of  teachers 23,  51 

sociology . 24 

soul  uplift 115 

sounder  scholarship 18 

sparkle -44 

special  schools 30 

teachers 159 

spelling 182 

spirit  of  work 215,  247 

spiritual  repose 49 

spontaneous  spirit 158 

spur  of  competition 136 

spurred  on 132 

square  boy  in  round  hole 105 

•stagnation 64 


INDEX  295 

stakes  and  ideal 228 

stalwart  pupils 60 

standard  of  work 243 

raised 200 

Star  spangled  banner 262 

state  department 96,  167 

Stein,  Anna  K.  q. 85 

still  strong  men 231 

stimulus  of  crowd 232 

of  numbers 17,  220 

stone  rejected 237 

strain 15 

on  teacher 149,  173,  183,  196 

straying 150 

street  appeals 48 

strength  to  grapple 145 

strengthening  graded  system 162 

strong  grade 176 

pupils 60, 197 

teaching 232 

strongest  characters 26 

studious  application 196 

study  periods 222,  252 

stumbling 143 

stupid 90 

subnormal  pupils 173 

success 158 

Suffer  little  children 150 

suffering  of  parents 40 

of  public 41 

of  pupils 20,  39, 113,  227 

of  teachers , 40 

sunshine 43,  77 


296  THE   BATAVIA   SYSTEM 

superintendent  emancipated 65 

supplement  to  class 17 

survival  of  fittest 48 

sustained  diligence 172 

sweep  of  the  class 176 

Sydney 236 

symmetry 168 

sympathetic  guidance 47,  50,  195 

sympathies 62 

sympathy 42,  56,  61,  150,  189,  196,  248,  253 

and  common  sense 246 

systematic  help 247 

talent  universal ^ 70 

tangle  of  facts 147 

tangled  mass 163 

tardiness  of  response 69 

taxpayers 3S 

Taylor,  Frederick  W 135 

teachers,  effect  on 23, 160,  238 

favor  it 191,  253 

suffer 40 

teaching  a  fine  art 68 

not  testing 251 

tears  wiped  away^ 42 

temperance 106 

tension 164 

tester,  not  teacher 250 

testing  exercise 187 

tethered 20 

theoretic  merits 219 

thicker  bred 69 

thinking  in  public 17 

threats 88 


INDEX  297 

three  don'ts 80,  134 

elements 218 

time  wasted .  14 

timidity 63,  174 

Titusville,  Pa 110 

tolerance 61 

Tomlinson,  Daniel  W 75,  101,  131,  132 

tonic 183 

torture  to  laggard 64 

tragedy 103,  228 

train  attention 59 

trained 136 

training 58 

transformation 29 

triumphs  of  the  teacher 61 

truant  officer ,  .  225 

truants 56 

tutors 34 

two  teachers 186 

work  as  one 104 

unfortunates 173 

ungraded  room 56,  167 

school 167,219 

unhappy  children 45 

uniform  work 120 

universal  education 34 

universities • 83,  168 

University  of  Pa ^5 

of  Virginia 83,  125 

unkindness 173 

unresponsiveness 61,  222 

unrest 30,88 

untaught  must  go 47 


298  THE  BATAVIA  SYSTEM 

uplift rl50,  163 

upper  grades 156,  168,  238 

upraised  hands 25 

vacuities  filled 49 

varied  stimulus 54 

vehicle  relieved 29 

vice,  dropping  into 240 

vigor 45,  177 

vigorous  teachers 163 

virile 170 

vocation  a  joy 150 

Washburn,  J.  J 101, 131 

waste  of  energy ^ 65 

reduced  to  minimum 229 

weak  pupils 60,  195 

made  strong 31 

spots  strengthened 92 

West  Bay  City,  Mich Ill,  122 

Westerly,  R.  I.  address 39 

opinions 253 

Westminister  abbey , 236 

school 235 

when  man  is  down 237 

Whitney,  Barney  q * 87 

wholesale  education 54 

failure 14 

processes • 232 

teaching 9 

wild  boy 57 

will  strengthened 16 

to  do  right -. 16 

William  of  Wykeham. . 234 

Winchester 235 


INDEX  299 

with,  not  for  the  pupil 248 

withdrawn  from  school 50,  148,  154 

Wisconsin 110,  129 

wolf  from  the  door 50 

word  repetition , 251 

work 173 

a  disenf ectant 240 

by  himself 218 

dangerous 45 

workshop 30 

worry 41,  45,  90,  100,  156,  163,  173 

kills  more  than  work 120 

worrying  parents 40 

writing 182 

written  work 94 

zealous  enterprise 25 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
V            •          •    STAMPED  BELOW 

AN  INITIAL  FINE  OF  25  CENTS 

WILL   BE   ASSESSED    FOR    FAILURE  TO    RETURN 
THIS    BOOK   ON    THE    DATE   DUE.    THE   PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  50  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY    AND    TO     $1.00    ON     THE    SEVENTH     DAY 
OVERDUE. 

Aug30'48BS 

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MAR   29  1935 

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JUL    28  1937 

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LD  21-100m-8,'34 

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333828 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CAUFORNIA  LIBRARY 


